District Five names its coaches: Brown, Logan and Darby
By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer Thursday, April 10, 2008After a month of uncertainty, Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five filled all three of its head football coaching vacancies on Wednesday.
Tommy Brown (Orangeburg-Wilkinson), Ernest Logan (North) and Glynn Darby (Bethune-Bowman) all officially accepted their respective head coaches following approval at Tuesday's Board of Trustees meeting at Dover Elementary School.
The move marks a return to O-W for Brown, who spent 11 seasons with the Bruins, an additional role at Bethune-Bowman for Darby, who's also the school's girls' basketball coach, and a new challenge for Logan, who will also serve as athletics director.
TOMMY BROWN
O-W principal Gregory McCord examined 40 applications and selected 10 candidates to interview.
In the end, he was most comfortable with bringing back an old face despite having two of the six board members (Vice Chairman Melvin Crum and Secretary Susan Gleaton) voting against his recommendation made to Superintendent Melvin Smoak.
"The kids were beaming with excitement when they were told he would be the next coach," McCord said. " These were kids who were not there when he first served. That means more."
Brown replaces Reggie Kennedy, who resigned in March to return to Fairfield Central. Ironically, it was Brown who also succeeded Kennedy in Winnsboro after he left to accept the O-W head coaching job.
The South Carolina State graduate posted a 70-61 in 11 seasons with the Bruins, leading them to their last region title in 1995 and last playoff victory in 1996. During his tenure, Brown sent a bevy of student-athletes into the college and pro ranks such as Arturo Freeman, Deveron Harper, Woodrow Dantzler, Alex Barron and Jonas Seawright to name a few.
Since the school and Brown parted ways following the 2002 season, O-W has had just one winning season (2003) and two playoff appearances. During that same six-year span, Brown had programs at Bethune-Bowman, Calhoun County and Fairfield-Central in the postseason every year and led the Saints to their first-ever Upper State title and Class A championship game appearance in 2005.
McCord believes Brown has become a "better coach" from those experiences and sees this as a "fresh start" for him. In addition, McCord believes strengthening the school's feeder system - something Kennedy was a strong proponent for - will help aid Brown in his challenge to revive the program.
ERNEST LOGAN
Given the community size and opportunity to serve as a head coach and athletics director, North High School was a perfect fit for Ernest Logan.
A graduate of Auburn University, Logan has spent over a decade coaching football in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. He was the offensive coordinator at Broome High School when it won the Class 2-A championship in 2004.
The following year, Logan took over similar duties at Ridge View High School where it finished 8-4 before losing to eventual Class 4-A Division I runner-up Summerville. In two years at Keenan, Logan posted a 4-17 record but made the playoffs each year.
He now looks to turn around an Eagles' program which last enjoyed a winning season in 2000, but was the only District Five school to reach the postseason under Carlos Cave a season ago . Logan's arrival also coincides with increased competition in Region 4-A with defending Class A Division II champion Blackville-Hilda, Williston-Elko and C.A. Johnson moving in.
"I know those are tough teams," Logan said. "Unfortunately, (B-H and W-E) are my first two region games. I'm just trying to get my kids to compete and play hard against them and do the best you can because you never know. If we get everything in quickly and the kids can grasp it, we may be able to do well against those teams. Those are probably the two best teams that's probably going to be our region and we'll going to have to do our best to win that region."
Logan plans to implement a wide-open offense similar to the one used at Broome when he had Vanderbilt wide receiver D.J. Moore as a quarterback.
"I'm a spread guy - 3-4 wide type of coach," he said. "I like to run the shotgun and try to spread the ball out. So I'm going to try to do the same thing I've been doing for the last six years. I'm going to try to bring the same type of offense and intensity to North."
GLYNN DARBY
Fresh off leading the Lady Mohawks to within a game of the Class A championship game, Glynn Darby will try to wield similar magic on the gridiron.
In seven seasons as Hunter-Kinard-Tyler head football coach from 1993-2000, Darby posted a 23-49 record and coached current Trojans' head coach Jermaine Derricott. He also has extensive experience as an assistant coach at Lower Richland, Eau Claire and C.A. Johnson, where he was the boys' basketball coach as well.
Darby replaces Robert Hemby following a nightmarish 3-6 campaign in which the program missed the postseason for the first time in 19 years after being placed on one-year probation following a skirmish in the Sept. 7 game against H-K-T. Like North, the Mohawks are also seeking its first winning season since 2000.
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Big Dawg wrote on Apr 21, 2008 4:04 PM:
You obviously know Coach Brown well because the one word that shows up in your post numerous times that I feel embodies who he is: DISCIPLINE. If we learned nothing else from Coach Brown, we learned discipline and accountability for our actions. I have relied on the lessons I learned under his tutelage on so many occasions in my life since then. As I've said before, what he taught transcends a football field. He taught boys how to be men and, for that, I am forever indebted to him. For the Orangeburg community, I am extremely happy that his example has returned to the lives of our youth. "
Ajamu wrote on Apr 17, 2008 7:46 PM:
ICU81 wrote on Apr 17, 2008 6:10 PM:
Big Dawg wrote on Apr 17, 2008 1:19 PM:
The article mentions the players that Coach Brown sent to the college and professional ranks and, yes, we are extremely proud of those individuals and their accomplishments. However, what the article does not mention (and what I know for a fact) are those players who have gone on to become doctors (1), lawyers (1), engineers (1), pilots (1), real estate investment company owners (1), and educators (too numerous to count), to name a few. So, let's not be too swift, narrow-minded, or nearsighted as to judge the significance of this man just from the standpoint of wins and losses because I guarantee...the wins FAR outweigh the losses.
Welcome home, Coach.
"
ICU81 wrote on Apr 16, 2008 4:01 PM:
sassylady wrote on Apr 16, 2008 12:26 PM:
justice wrote on Apr 16, 2008 10:42 AM:
It's not "Welcome Back Kotter" this time; but, rather "Welcome Back Coach Tommy Brown." Some of us have missed you. I'm one of "some of us." Welcome Back Mary Ann too!
"
The Eagle wrote on Apr 16, 2008 10:39 AM:
got2know wrote on Apr 16, 2008 6:20 AM:
got2know wrote on Apr 15, 2008 3:00 PM:
ICU81 wrote on Apr 10, 2008 8:20 PM:
The Eagle wrote on Apr 10, 2008 10:59 AM: