He may be going with Corey Johnson to Marlboro county.
Lumberton Coach Resigns
- Thread starter FBUncle
- Start date
He may be going with Corey Johnson to Marlboro county.
With timing, they will stumble upon the ideal candidate for this program. Reading the article, this seemed to have been a temporary coach.
He seemed like the next major name down there in Lumberton, in my opinion. While I have a lot of concerns, I am aware that this circumstance has led to some difficult questions for the upcoming round of interviews. Will there be a temporary interim?
Feels like every hire here is an interim. This county has open enrollment and Lumberton is the biggest school. Hire a guy who wants to be there, let him build a staff and you will have the best program in the county.
Although Lumberton is the largest school in the area, you would assume it wouldn't have any issues with athletes. The same school Marquez North attended. I'm not sure what's going on? On the staff idea, I'm not sure. When has a coach been allowed to bring in his own staff?
I believe the previous coaches all had the ability to bring in their own assistants. I know that Lumberton always has jobs available in positions to hire quality assistants. Now the question becomes, how many want to move to Lumberton to teach/coach? If they don't live near enough to commute? They've had some very good coaches over the years just haven't been able to put it together. Same with Hoke County. Got the athletes, but missing something.
What is more important to know is: Given the current state of this program, who has the knowledge and expertise to step up to the plate and lead Lumberton to success? Athletes are heavily represented in the community, so that is not the problem. What will it take to draw athletes as well as the coach or coaches?
IDK. That's the million dollar question. Lumberton hasn't been good since I've been in this area. 9 years almost. It's a tough job! Got some good facilities and good athletes. Just really need some consistency to develop the program over time. It's not going to happen at LHS overnight. Gonna take a 5 year commitment to get it done.
I struggle to comprehend why they are unable to just draw in a top-tier coach. There are more athletes to select from in the corridors and the largest school in the largest county. It might be possible for new athletes to participate if they could merely gain some momentum and advance to the first round, regardless of the outcome.
I have never been through Lumberton, but i was told by number of people if you do you better carry gun with you. Lumberton was rated as the worst city to live in North Carolina and crime rate is sky high. The ? Is what the issue with the Lumberton football program? They haven't had a winning record since 2008 to 2011. Is the city of Lumberton the issue not being able to get kids to go out for football? Or to find a good HC for hire. Good luck to Lumberton on the next hire.
In my book they have never been good nor has any team from the county barring the James McDougal lead Maxton teams from the 70s. It's nothing new or something that has fallen off. It's just never been there at all. It's a football graveyard. I do believe the Lumberton basketball team went to the state title game once or maybe even twice in recent years but other than that they never seem to compete ever in hoops. It's just never been there and not likely to ever be.
Outside of Tim Worley and Marquez North who played a year there what has Lumberton done? What was their record even when they had those two? When was their last playoff win or deep run. I honestly can't remember because there simply isn't much to remember. I remember the great Maxton run with James McDougal that's it. I remember UNC got a very good DL out of there in the 70s Broadwell. Other than that they have been easy to forget. Granted I'm not sure about Red Springs and St Paul's but I pay very little attention to the small schools. Lumberton has been rightfully dwarfed by regional competition despite being in various conferences by Scotland, Richmond, and any number of Fayetteville teams over the last 50 years. I can't ever really remember Lumberton ever winning a conference crown or a deep playoff run or your Purnell Sweat team for that matter. They are really in the same boat as Lumberton both floating in a sea of mediocrity even on their best days. What am I wrong about?
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Lumberton won 11 games in 2002. There was a time when things were looking good. Coach Smouse was there then. To me, it could be a good program with stability. The school board and community would have supported successful leadership, but both Purnell Swett and Lumberton have had a lot of turnover since the county AD (Ronnie Chavis?) retired. No knock on anyone since then...but, it was a local leadership that kept the optimism. You kinda need to be from there to get it.
I went and looked up the championship game records that date to 1913 regarding High School football. I found the only Robeson County schools that reached the state title games ever in recorded history
1947: Fairmont (won by forefeit). Don't know if this means game wasn't played or game was played and Fairmont lost on field but later awarded victory due to ineligible player participation on opposing team , etc..
1962: Lumberton lost to Rockingham 13-6.
1965: Lumberton Littlefield beat Swansboro 7-0 to win 1A-R state title.
1975: Maxton with the great James McDougal which I previously mentioned absolutely slaughtered North Duplin to win the 1A state title 86-8 in 1A class.
2020: St. Paul's loses 2AA state championship to Salisbury 42-14 in a covid shortened season where St Paul's entered the playoffs with a record of 5-0 on the regular season.
All this of course proves your theory that I am wrong and that Lumberton and Robeson County is a hotbed of High School football talent and tradition/achievement.
You're a Harvard University Research Graduate
In your initial message you made it sound as if NOTHING exciting has ever happened here. Surely it's not no where near Independence or Dutch Fork, but according to historical data dated back to the George Washington era, there has NEVER been a clear LEGIT Championship win in this part of the world except the McDougal event.
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So have they made a hire after the last Guy went South to be an assistant for more Money? I don’t know who would have applied for this job after the last two head Coaches.
That's a good question. Maybe I overlooked that
I will go back and check. Approximately what year would this have been?
Don't get me to lying... (maybe early 2000's) It would have been when Vonta Leach played.
I went back and looked again. I dont see any year listed where South Roberson played in a state title game.
That Harvard University Research Graduate knows that......
I thought he would have brought it up on his first try, but he failed to do so...
Brill had that 1998 squad locked and that is the year they advanced to the state 1-A regional finals with running back-linebacker Vonta Leach.
No one could stop Vonte those days. He was the biggest thing on that team. Biggest thing in the county lol
That's all great and taking nothing away from that but I clearly said that I was looking into state championship game appearances which that was not. Still granted I admit getting that far is clearly a great season and achievement. And no I didn't know that South Roberson advanced that far into the playoffs.
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Did I say anything at all that was untrue? You seem pissed that I laid out facts here. The facts are that in 111 years of recorded history only 5 Robeson County teams at all levels combined have played in a state championship game.
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There isn't anything that you or anyone else can do about it. Not your responsibility or problem. I just had to lay out the facts because you said I was wrong when I said there is little to no achievement in Lumberton prep football history. But I can't blame you for supporting your local teams. Hopefully Lumberton makes a good hire and has better days in front of them.
Been there.... Tough place to work, tough place to live, tough place to raise a family (safety wise). I really don't think any magical coaching hire is going to fix any or all of the socioeconomic problems
Yeah I have to agree with Middle Sound about Lumberton. I've lived here 37 out of my 57 years and L'ton (with a very few exceptions) has always struggled. At one time, I heard, dont know if true, that L'ton was the largest 4a school in the state, but have no ideal what enrollment is these days. It was also always said they are a sleeping giant, with the right coach and motivation to get the kids out of the hallways and on the field, they would be able to give Scotland/Richmond a run.....however this just never materializes. I'm back here now after living on the other side of Asheville for about 14 years and Wilmington for 7, and went to the Lumberton vs Red Springs game. RS won the game the following Saturday, as someone popped off about 8 rounds in the parking lot behind me at the start of the 3rd quarter that Friday night. Honestly, I really have to say I was very disappointed with the quality of football from both teams. It was penalty after penalty on both teams and just lack of something, I dont really know, but IMHO neither team deserved to win that game. West Rob/Swett had a decent run with Mark Heil back in the day and Fairmont, St. Pauls, occasionally Red Springs will make it 2-3 rounds into the playoffs but that pretty much sums up Robco football.
I think the Tim Worley led Lumberton team went 10-0 back in the day.
Don’t recall if there were playoff wins that year.
I didn’t fact check, just memory so I could be mistaken.
Don’t recall if there were playoff wins that year.
I didn’t fact check, just memory so I could be mistaken.
Went 10-0 in the regular season, Lost 24-0 to 71st in the 1st Round.