Nathan Key

nathankey@newstopic.net

The only head football coaching job Chuck Cannon ever wanted was the one at Hibriten High School, his alma mater. Now, after 11 seasons as the Panthers' head man, Cannon is stepping away from that position.

Cannon met with his players Tuesday afternoon and informed them of his decision to step away from coaching, though he will remain at Hibriten as the school's athletics director and a teacher.

"This is the only job I ever wanted," Cannon said. "If I had gotten a head job anywhere else, it would have been until I could have gotten to Hibriten. There's nothing like coaching where you played, coming back home. Not a lot of guys get to coach where they went to school. That's not common in high schools that much anymore."

Cannon's successor will be Clay Lewis, a member of the Hibriten coaching staff since 1989.

Telling the team of his decision was not a chore Cannon looked forward to, but he addressed the players before telling them that Lewis would be their new head coach.

"I dreaded telling them, but it's something you've got to do," he said. "They deserve someone who has a little more energy to give them than I have now. I still care about them and love every one of them. If they are going to perform at the level they are used to, someone else needs to be driving the ship besides me."

Cannon, 48, and with 25 years as an educator to his credit, said it was the right time for him to step away from coaching.

"It takes so much time to do it the right way, and I don't know if I can do it the way it needs to be done and spend the time I want with my family," Cannon said. "I've enjoyed every second of it. So many people have to leave not of their own choosing. There's nothing wrong. I just think I'm leaving for the right reasons."

Hibriten Principal Lewis Wright said he was not surprised by Cannon's decision.

"Because I've been involved in coaching, I know how much work is involved and how many hours it takes," Wright said. "Chuck is driven. He's driven to do his best, driven to get the best out of his players and his coaches. A high school football coaching position can wear on a person, and after a while you probably need a break from that to pursue time with family and other things."

Wright also spoke of the time and effort put into the football program by Cannon.

"Chuck Cannon has been dedicated - to his players, his coaches, his school and his community," Wright added.

Cannon gave four primary reasons for the decision he has reached at this point in his career.

He said the time required of him to serve in dual roles as football coach and AD were becoming overwhelming, citing 18-hour days as quite a load. Cannon also noted that he was running out of time to spend with his family before his two kids are grown and out of the house. He and his wife Karen have a daughter, Mckenzie, 19, a junior at Wofford College, and a son, Matt, 13, a seventh grader at William Lenoir Middle School.

"I know everybody says that's a reason, but there's some truth to it," Cannon said. "They're going to grow up, and I don't want to miss it."

He also acknowledged the loyalty of his assistant coaches and the ability to focus more on needs of the school's overall athletic program as reasons to step aside now.

In citing the loyalty of his assistant coaches, Cannon gave credit for the football team's success to those men who have helped him through the years.

"The assistant coaches are the ones who do it; they make the program succeed," he said. "The head coach coaches the assistants, and they coach the kids. I've not had to do a lot of coaching with this crowd because they were pretty good. I've got some guys who have been loyal to me, and I feel like I need to give them a chance to progress professionally."

Cannon recommended to Wright that Lewis, the team's offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and strength and conditioning coach, be elevated to the position of head coach, a recommendation that Wright supports.

"We have named Clay Lewis as our next head football coach," Wright said. "We wanted continuity, not a break in leadership. I have high confidence in Clay. He's been here for 20 years. He has the confidence of myself and the athletics director."

Cannon was a quarterback at Hibriten under Ted Luckadoo, leading the Panthers to a 3A conference title in 1979 as a senior that included a trip to regional semifinals before a loss to South Point ended their season at 10-2-1, the best mark in school history until Cannon became the school's head coach.

Following that run, however, Hibriten saw a stretch of futility on the gridiron, winning a total of 68 games under six coaches from 1980-1998 that saw just three playoff berths.

Cannon, a 1984 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College, bounced around as an assistant coach at several schools after leaving a job with the N.C. Department of Revenue. He got his start in coaching under John Mackie at South Caldwell in 1987, serving two years there before going to Freedom under Pete Stout for two years and spending another two with Mike Carter at Mooresville. From 1993-96 he was an assistant to Dan Hardee at South Caldwell and spent 1997-98 with Mike Helms at East Burke before being hired at Hibriten in May 1999 by then-Principal Andy Anderson.

His first three teams won just nine games before breaking through with a 10-win campaign in 2002 that started a string of eight consecutive postseason appearances for the Panthers. During the last eight seasons, Hibriten went 75-31 and won four conference championships. The Panthers reached the 2AA regional final in 2003 before falling to Bandys to cap a 13-2 season.

In 2008, they were 12-2 and followed that with last season's 13-1 campaign, though both postseason runs ended in the regional semifinals.

Overall, Cannon's teams fashioned an 85-54 record in 11 years, including a 47-31 league mark in four different conferences. They posted six of the school's 18 winning seasons in its 44-year history and five of its six 10-win campaigns. The Panthers went 10-8 in the playoffs under Cannon.

The decision to step away from coaching actually entered Cannon's mind during the 2008 season. When he told his wife, an avid supporter of the team and the person Cannon calls his "best assistant coach and a good ambassador for Hibriten," what he was pondering, she didn't think he would carry through with it. But he did.

"She didn't think I would do it, but sometimes you just know when it's time," Cannon said. "I told her it was time for me to enjoy her and the kids before everyone was grown. But I know it's going to be different not being on the sidelines."

Cannon noted the efforts of all his assistants through the years as well as the support he received from the school's administration during his tenure.

"I think we've got an awfully committed group of assistant coaches who hung in there through the tough times instead of bailing out when it was rough. They bought into what we were trying to do, and we had some pretty good players who also bought into what we were doing," he explained. "I've worked for three good principals (Anderson, Wright, Buzz Sims) who had enough confidence in me not to micromanage and allow me to run the athletic program the way I perceived it needed to be done. That has meant a lot.

While stepping down from the head football job at Hibriten, Cannon said he has not ruled out a return to the gridiron later in life. In fact, he thinks he will return to coaching once he re-energizes himself.

"I'm not going to be gone forever," Cannon said. "But I don't see myself coaching in the same capacity. I'll coach again, it just won't be as a head coach. It's just time for me to re-charge my batteries."

For now, though, the days that start at 7 a.m. and end after midnight will be a thing of the past -- no more weightlifting in the morning, field maintenance in the afternoon and workouts in the evenings.

"I'll go home at 5:30 p.m. now. I've never wondered what time I could go home because I never went at that time," Cannon said with a smile. "If I can't get it finished by 5:30 p.m. now, I know it will be there tomorrow."