Breaking News: Asheville High's Danny Wilkins announces retirement
- Thread starter TitanDan2001
- Start date
Will post more later but Wilkins finishes his 16 year stint at Asheville with a 162-44-1 record, 12 outright or shared conference titles, 10 3rd round appearances, 5 regional finals and a state title. This is a guy who was a couple of unlucky bounces away from having 3-4 rings instead of 1. However you feel about his coaching, you could not ask for a better man to have running your program and coaching your son.
Well its official I guess, the rumors were true. Thanks to Danny Wilkins for all the great games and victories he has led us to the last 16 years including the 2005 state championship. A great guy who averaged more than 10 wins a season for 16 years. Three guys have gone on to the NFL under Wilkins tenure as well as dozens of college players. Ill write more later but I expect the coaching search to be expansive with ALOT of very qualified coaches looking to be the next head coach at the best high school stadium in North Carolina coaching an array of talented players. Let the search begin…..
As I said on another thread, there will be MULTIPLE guys who are FAR more qualified for the job than anybody on Asheville highs current coaching staff. It would be idiotic for the Asheville administration and AD to just promote somebody into that position without doing a thorough search of at least 12 candidates. There isn't a more appealing football coaching job in WNC than Asheville High and I think for them to just put someone into that head coaching role because they are already there coaching would be dumb to say the least. If they want to interview 10-20 candidates and they still feel that a current coach on the staff is the best option then that is one thing, but there needs to be a real search.
I agree, just stating my opinion on the rumor. This is coming from someone real close to the program. I won't a big name.
Yea get ready for some more rumors too lol. From now until the time of the hiring, whenever that will be, there are going to be tons of rumors, I guarantee it.
I have heard the same thing about the D coordinator. There isn't anything wrong with hiring from within the program. ACR did the same thing when hiring Coach Shane Laws. I think that has worked out really well. I am sure they will hire a good coach. I hope they hire a good man as well. They had both and that is what every high school needs.
You hit the nail on the head Bama. We can get a new coach from within or we can recruit one in from a thousand miles away, but we'll be looking for a long time to find someone who truly loved his players as much as DW. A couple years ago one of our former players was killed in an auto accident late one night. The first call the parents made was to coach Wilkins. That's how much he is loved and respected. The man would literally take a bullet for any kid in that locker room. He cared as much for the worst players on his teams as he did for the super stars. He was a father figure to hundreds of kids who had no fathers, and he loved them off the field as well as on it.
Hiring within worked out for Reynolds, but there is no rule that says just because you coached on staff you should be promoted to the next head coach of that school. I think Coach Metcalf is the only clear cut obvious choice that could take over for Wilkins at Asheville and it would satisfy pretty much everybody. If it appears that Asheville hires a coach from within and pretty much blows off the coaching search for other candidates that applied, there are going to be ALOT and I mean ALOT of pissed off Asheville fans. You hire the best man for the job, I don't care if he's on the current coaching staff or if he's on the moon, if he is a good guy, has a good resume and fits the mold, then he gets the job, period. I don't want to see a situation where you have the most highly desired coaching job in the mountains just have somebody inserted in there because he's on the staff already. You bet your ass there will be at least 1 big name coach out of the 25+ applicants that will apply for this job that would be a big time hire, it would be a shame if we didn't take our time on this decision.
Asheville will have plenty of options but it will still be hard to find a coach as good as Wilkins. Him and Bobby Poss are the best high school coaches in Buncombe County history.
Besides ACR doesn't Swain always promote from within. Worked out pretty well for them multiple times. Rings, rings and more rings.
I am not saying that Asheville should hire from within. All I am saying is they shouldn't discount the coaches they have on staff already. I am sure they will have plenty of applicants from outside and inside the program. With the resources they have they should be able to get a very capable coach.
I believe they will have the coach in before Xmas break, or when students return from break. weight training starts then and Wilkins was the one running it, so I'm guessing this new coach will do the same.
Asheville fans, I was wondering how your new AD is working out. Is he well thought of and do you have confidence he will be an asset in helping to choose a new coach. I don't know anything about your principal, but I do know from experience that an incompetent principal can sure make some bad hires. Will your AD have a major say so in the hire or will it solely be the principals call?
Very true. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe out of all the applicants, the principal will narrow it down to the two or three she thinks best, then it will be up to Central Office to make the call. We could end up with a hero or a zero.
I dunno, but I did see Bucky Tarr driving out of the ACS central office parking lot yesterday around 4:30.
I actually heard this back in October, but didn't say anything. I'm hearing
this could happen
Heath has a job as lobbyist for Duke Power, lot more pay, benefits that a high school coaching job and more perks.
His son is at Christ School, I don't anticipate him leaving there and thus Heath won't.
Are you serious? If so that could mean something. What the hell would a buncombe county guy be doing at the Asheville city school central office? I can only think of one thing
Money is not a concern to the shuler family I'm sure. That would be a big hire and I'm sure if he had the opportunity to be a head coach at a school like Asheville and coach his son possibly, he would a least consider it. Id be willing to bet that job has crossed his mind.
I hate how people think you have to be one or the other. Spread vs traditional I formation. (Not saying you feel that way). But You can do both. It's not about doing one or the other, it's about showing many different formations and keeping the defense guessing. Asheville has had more than enough talent and speed to run both I formation and spread formations.
I agree. With your size on the lines on a regular basis it would be a shame to totally abandon the I. Also inside the 10 I hate the spread. In fact inside the 20 everything tightens up so much. You can still pass inside the 20 but it would be nice if you have some power sets in the red zone to go with the spread.
