–Pigskin Report - Week 14 - by Michael Hughes
24 November 2007More coaches on the move
by Michael Hughes
At a school that has received more negative press than other mountain schools combined over the years, head football coach Chris Brookshire was happy to be there and grateful for the opportunity to coach, teach, lead and guide young men at Erwin High School. Coach Brookshire succeeded the popular and successful Travis Noland and had some heavy weight to carry.
His predecessor was actually Mark Gosnell, whom the school had originally hired to replace Noland. Gosnell abruptly resigned to take an assistant position at Tuscola—and to become the girls varsity basketball coach—before the new school year began. Noland had succeeded present Asheville High coach Danny Wilkins at Erwin in 1998.
Brookshire returned to Erwin in 2003 after spending three seasons as an assistant at North Buncombe. From ’94 – ’99 he worked at different times at Erwin Middle and Erwin High, and was thrilled to be back in the district. His replacement is Mike Sexton, a Warriors assistant in ’07 with four years of head coaching experience in western North Carolina.
At McDowell, another true gentleman is gone. Four-year head coach Dave Haynie resigned after the Titans were unable to turn the victory corner in the competitive 4-A ranks. Despite the negative won-loss records, an always upbeat Haynie had incredible success in teaching the running game, which got progressively better with each season. But the McDowell defense was never as sound as the offense. In his four seasons in Marion, Haynie’s top tailback rushed for 839 yards in ’04, 1,733 in ’05, 2,156 in ’06 and 2,654 in ’07. His value to the game is unlimited.
The biggest area name to leave is former Brevard skipper Dan Essenberg. After 30 years of teaching and coaching in North Carolina, Coach Essenberg announced his resignation following his team’s playoff loss to Lincolnton. The end of his accomplished career coincides with the graduation of his twin sons, who formed the passing battery this fall for the Western Athletic Conference champion Blue Devils.
As a head football coach in Transylvania County for 18 years, Essenberg teams won 67 percent of the time and made the playoffs on 16 occasions. In his 11 seasons at Brevard, the Blue Devils’ took eight conference titles and had a .74 winning percentage with only one losing season. He also compiled a winning record at 1-A Rosman from ’91 – ’96, and was an assistant to Frank Robinson for Brevard’s 3-A state championship in ’82.
Brevard and county neighbor Rosman never played each other when Essenberg coached the Tigers. A player from those years, current East Henderson coach Brett Chappell, went on to break the western North Carolina rushing record before playing for Western Carolina and then in the NFL.
After Essenberg took the top job at Brevard in ’97, the schools played each other for seven of the next 11 years, with the Blue Devils winning each time while scoring 40 or more points in six of those meetings. The closest call was a 29-13 triumph in ’98, when Brevard finished 12-1. In the most recent get together, the Blue Devils won 62-3, prompting the Transylvania County school system to suspend the series.
Within Essenberg’s first three years at Brevard, another star pupil, Manny Deshauteurs, surpassed Chappell and North Buncombe’s Jeremy Laster to become the region’s all-time rushing leader.
While leading one of the most storied and traditionally powerful programs in the region, Essenberg became the school’s career leader in total wins, exceeding the 105 Robinson accumulated in 13 seasons from ’80 to ’92.
Like we said in ’06, the mountains are full of prime coaches. Enjoy these men while you can.
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