More than a dozen Franklin High football players packed the entrance at Macon Early College on Monday night to implore the Macon County Board of Education to bring back Josh Brooks as their coach as the coaching search is now over 100 days.
Addix Sutton, a rising junior and team captain, spoke on behalf of members of the FHS football team during the public comment portion of the Feb. 19 school board meeting.
“I come to you tonight asking you for a football coach,” Sutton told the board. “Since this time, all the football players at FHS, which I believe is around 75 between JV and varsity, have been without a football coach.”
Sutton said the team wants Brooks as their head coach, saying he knows them, the program and loves the FHS Panthers.
“With all the things we’ve been through and with all that’s ahead, that’s who we want, that’s what the players in this room want and many more who couldn’t make it. That’s the man we support,” Sutton said of Brooks. “This is what’s in the best interest of FHS Football.”
Brooks stepped down as head football coach Nov. 13 following the 2023 season after 18 years in charge. Previously, Brooks briefly resigned after the 2022 season before changing his mind a week later.
Sutton explained that typically around this time, mid-February, players have received their spring and summer workout schedules to plan their summer vacations, including summer camps.
“Sadly, we seem to be the only football team in Western North Carolina without a football coach,” Sutton said.
Sutton talked about how he heard the job was offered to “a few different folks from out of town” but they declined, and that previous assistants “had been turned down.”
“We were also told we would have a coach by Christmas at the latest, that hasn’t happened either,” Sutton said. “My question is where do we go from here? What is the plan? Did anyone talk to Coach Josh [Brooks] and get his views on the future of the program? If so, what did he recommend? Did we listen?”
Sutton equated the team now to “a bunch of lost sheep without a shepherd” and said the team’s “school discipline incidents are suffering.”
Sutton praised Brooks for holding students accountable throughout the school year.
“Football just doesn’t happen between August and October, it’s nearly year-round and I feel as though we are three months behind,” Sutton said. “Hell, it’s been 98 days without a head football coach. Let that sink in for just a minute, 98 days.”
Linda Stewart fought back tears as she described herself as a “nanny to all these boys” on the football team and a mother of two football players, saying she agreed 100% with what Sutton said.
Following the close of public comment, Board Chair Jim Breedlove commended Sutton for speaking and told the players more than likely there wouldn’t be a new football coach hired that night.
After the meeting when asked about a timeline for naming a coach, MCS Superintendent Josh Lynch said he understood the players’ concerns.
“The process is still alive and actively in pursuit,” Lynch said. “And we hope to very soon be able to name a head coach for Franklin High School because it’s very important at this point to get the season off and running and have that leadership there for the students as well as the program.”
When asked about the coaching search process, Lynch said it has gone “much longer than we anticipated.”
Twenty-one people applied for the head coach’s position, according to Macon County Schools Personnel Director Todd Gibbs.
“We feel as though our committee that has been put into place has done a very fine job of going through the process actively and we feel that soon, we will be able to name an individual to take that leadership role,” Lynch said.
Plans for a new FHS stadium are completed, and tentatively, work will begin this summer, taking Franklin High’s home field offline for a year. Lynch said there are “many different meetings taking place to explore the various options” for how and what the 2024 football season will look like.
“Very soon, those [plans] will be finalized, so we will have a schedule moving forward to present to the public as well as the students,” Lynch said. “So everyone will know, but those meetings are actively occurring right now and will be occurring next week to finalize as such.”
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 1:37 p.m. Macon County Schools issued a press release stating Brooks would be returning as head football coach. (The announcement came after deadline for the Feb. 21 edition of The Franklin Press. Look for more coverage in next week’s paper.)
The release from the board of education stated, “The Macon County Board of Education is excited that Franklin High School has upcoming expansion opportunities that will benefit all students at Franklin High. We know in the coming years it is beneficial to have continuity of leadership to navigate the terrain that comes with growth.”