North Stokes has hired Kolt Bullington as their new Head Football Coach. Coach Bullington is coming to North Stokes from East Surry High School, where he served as the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant for the past two seasons. This according to thenorthstokeshs Instagram page.
North Stokes Head Football Coaching Search
- Thread starter realjoejr
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They got a great man. I've known him and his family since they all were little. North Stokes is lucky to have a quality hire like this. He'll roll up his sleeves and put in the hard work it'll take to make it there. Really proud of him.
Go Big Red
#27Forever
Go Big Red
#27Forever
Good luck to Coach Bullington. He will need it in huge amounts. This is another very tough job due to pretty much zero tradition with winning and usually low numbers coming out for the team. They should be helped with the new conference they are in and facing other schools with very little to no football success. Not having to face the likes of Starmount, E. Surry and Mt. Airy should make life for the Vikings much easier.
Tough task for someone so young. Hope he does well and this doesn't leave a sour taste in his mouth.
He has honestly the best setup any of the HC's at North Stokes has ever had coming in. They have been in the Northwest since it's creation since 1967, and they've been cannon fodder every year since then. With the exception of Sessoms's mid 00's run and Martin's one year run in 1995 they've had a nightmare of an experience. It's like they've been waiting for nuclear fallout to fade away, and it's honestly happened now.
This conference they are going in, the oddly titled Greater Piedmont 2A/1A, is ripe for the picking. Bishop's HC has left and now they are a ? mark, South Stokes is too as their sucess depends on if the RB stays in house or not, and the other schools struggle to get kids out every year. The Danbury Vikings can honestly contend for a title here if things go the right way, but right now they need to establish the culture and keep the kids interested. They made a lot of gains last year, but they lost 2 games to Elkin and South Stokes they shoulda won. 4 wins for them woulda been outstanding. I hope that keeps them motivated, there is talent there, just gotta get the kids out.
Even if they regress somewhat, I think he has a good situation here and I wish him all the best. He seems like a really good fellow. Both North and South has two young coaches who I think can really profit off this new conference.
This conference they are going in, the oddly titled Greater Piedmont 2A/1A, is ripe for the picking. Bishop's HC has left and now they are a ? mark, South Stokes is too as their sucess depends on if the RB stays in house or not, and the other schools struggle to get kids out every year. The Danbury Vikings can honestly contend for a title here if things go the right way, but right now they need to establish the culture and keep the kids interested. They made a lot of gains last year, but they lost 2 games to Elkin and South Stokes they shoulda won. 4 wins for them woulda been outstanding. I hope that keeps them motivated, there is talent there, just gotta get the kids out.
Even if they regress somewhat, I think he has a good situation here and I wish him all the best. He seems like a really good fellow. Both North and South has two young coaches who I think can really profit off this new conference.
From 1967 to 2024 North Stokes only beat Mount Airy once, in 1995 by the score of 16-20. Mount Airy went 5-6 in 1995 and I think North Stokes had one of their best years. This was Coach Diamond's last year before going to East Surry where he had a great career. Again in 2001, North Stokes came close to beating Mount Airy with a score of MA 7 NS 6 and that was only Kelly Holders 3rd season but I don't think NS came close after that year, it was mostly blowouts by MA. In 2016 North Stokes was scheduled to play MA in game 6 but that year is the year I think they didn't have enough players out and folded after a few games but returned in 2017. If I have this wrong I am sure someone will know. I only got this from a mostly reliable source but sometimes it is incomplete.
The Mount Airy Bear Historian, DaddyDoug always has the most reliable conference history on area football.
I hope Kolt has a long and successful career at North Stokes and turns that program around in their new conference.
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Turning into a MA thread again.
This was on the history of North Stokes and Mount Airy and wishing them luck in their new conference and new coach. Your nose is in every thread posted on NCPreps and I knew my post would get a smart-ass remark but at least my posts are researched and I am not waiting to see a post I can have something negative to say about it. Why don't you try starting a thread or posting something positive sometimes rather than always negative ?
That goes for you too KW23. I was just thinking how many times you have asked me to find you a score for Allegheny and how much time I spent looking for a score for you, lol but you are like some others who like to gang on anything against MA because Allegheny can't beat MA and as you posted you were happy to be out of the conference with Mount Airy, I wish you better luck in your new but old conference !
A lot of threads don't survive past 10 posts without help and we may have just helped them from dropping way down the list and maybe others can talk about their history with North Stokes. I think North Stokes played East Surry in some close games with the Stokes County line being just outside the East Surry, Pilot Mountain city limits, and over the years there is maybe more of a story on that series. This was more so before West Stokes was built and took kids from both North and South Stokes. South had become 4A for many years before West Stokes was built and I think they dropped to 2A before dropping to 1A.
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I never remember asking u for a score..i remember thanking you for a score you posted like 5+ years ago ...I'm not a Mt airy hater...in fact I usually defend buzz etc.. vs the Mt airy haters. I don't think there is actual Mt airy haters people just get tired of seeing them included on every 1a thread. Like this thread was supposed to be about the new coach...and somehow it's turned into well they have only beaten mt airy one time since 1964? I just read it and thought wtf does that have to do with new coach. Just like I'm sure some people are reading this post of mine thinking the same thing lol At the same time without the Mt airy posters 1a board would be dead and very boring so y'all definitely keep it entertaining pissing off other fan bases. Y'all are pationate and i respect that. Go to Alleghany games and feel like I'm at a library most of the game. God forbid u yell at a football game..everytime I yell at Alleghany fans look at me like why is he yelling? Lol. Alleghany football is too predictable. We haven't beaten a team we weren't favored to win against since Frank Sessoms was our coach. I think Sessoms was the last good head coach Alleghany and north stokes had.v I always pull for y'all when y'all have played the smc teams and during y'all's playoff runs ...y'all are the only consistent good team in the NW on a consistent basis with exception of starmount now. And your right I don't want to play teams that I know will smash us like the bears do. sorry for rambling.
Back to topic . I think new North stokes coach will do great and the schedule is definitely in his favor.
Back to topic . I think new North stokes coach will do great and the schedule is definitely in his favor.
Yes, the new conference will help all teams involved as none of them really have any tradition of winning and success. Though, the team that wins this conference will likely get smashed in the first round of the playoffs depending on who they place. With North Stokes, the main issue is numbers and getting kids to come out and play football and sticking with it. And making sure they have a good off season program and that this new coaching staff will remain in place to build a culture. If the numbers on the team remain low, a few key injuries can be devastating and even lead to forfeits if the Vikings cannot field a team safely. The other bad thing is that if Coach Bullington can have success at a school like North Stokes, he'll get bigger schools sniffing around and looking to pluck him away. You can't blame coaches for wanting to go on to bigger and better schools with more support and better facilities. But it also means the turnover can be high at a place like North Stokes and once a culture starts to be built, they have to start all over again.
Their little bit of success was because of continuity of Sessoms staying. He got the most out of those kids. Fortner is one of the few that actually leaves for another head job. But as you said NS is in a winnable conference now. Best of luck to the new coach.
I just confirmed something I was thinking yesterday, that the only coach that coached at North Stokes and beat Mount Airy was Kirk Martin and I think he graduated from North Surry or coached there or maybe both coached and played there. I only confirmed that he was the North Stokes coach in 1995.
Does anyone else remember? I had to ask the sports writer at The Stokes News which is owned or used to be owned by the same company that owns The Mount Airy News, The Pilot News, Elkin Tribune, and The Carroll News. The Yadkin Paper and several others back about 10 or 15 years ago. Ownership of these papers have changed several times since I worked there for 10 years in the 1990s.
No smart remarks please, this thread was last posted on about 30 hours ago.
Does anyone else remember? I had to ask the sports writer at The Stokes News which is owned or used to be owned by the same company that owns The Mount Airy News, The Pilot News, Elkin Tribune, and The Carroll News. The Yadkin Paper and several others back about 10 or 15 years ago. Ownership of these papers have changed several times since I worked there for 10 years in the 1990s.
No smart remarks please, this thread was last posted on about 30 hours ago.
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I am not sure if you are asking or making a statement, but Kirk Martin was at N. Stokes 1 year and had a very successful season. But I do believe it was after he left N. Surry or got left from N. Surry, prior to his legal issues, and took a number of N Surry players with him and hence his success. Seems they rehired him back at N. Surry the next year. I like you TD, I am getting older and seasons and coaches are running together on me.
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I was in maybe a roundabout way wondering if he was at North Surry as a coach. I am thinking he may have graduated from North Surry. I was the photographer at the paper back then but I only have faint memories of back then.
Thanks for more confirmation. Maybe my memory is not as bad as I am thinking, wrong, lol.
You were correct, so he did coach at North Stokes & North Surry plus legal issues. The only place I could find anything about him was in a Wilmington,NC newspaper. This is dated 2004 so he must have went back to North Surry from North Stokes and coached there a few years.
I thought it was time to break the link. I had time to think and cut out part of the link that linked to the story.
https://www.starnewsonline.com/
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Kirk Martin did graduate from North Surry and teach and coach there. He was a mentor to me and did alot for me as did most of his family. As for those legal problems, just remember, there is always more to the story.
But yet I am the one that only says negative.You were correct, so he did coach at North Stokes & North Surry plus legal issues. The only place I could find anything about him was in a Wilmington,NC newspaper. This is dated 2004 so he must have went back to North Surry from North Stokes and coached there a few years.
Coach accused of drug sales
MOUNT AIRY - The head football coach at North Surry High School has been charged with trafficking drugs out of the house he shared with his wife, authorities said. John Kirk Martin, 42, a teacher i…www.starnewsonline.com
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As I recall, Kirk Martin was a good coach and had several solid seasons at North Surry? I don't recall the Hounds ever having much in the way of playoff success when he was there but they were usually pretty good in the regular season. It is a shame he got into legal trouble. Do you know what ever became of him?
Kirk Martin was head coach from 1996-2003…from 96-00 he won 43 games, 4 straight conf titles, and a playoff game in 1997. NS was 3A then and only 32 teams (instead of 64) made the playoffs. Coach can be found at NS or MA home games on Friday nights these days. Coach seems to be doing well and as one of his former players I still love the guy! A mistake doesn’t define you, but how you respond to it does and as someone earlier said “more to the story.” He was a heckuva coach who loved his players, school, and community.
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