Think Avery Cutshaw was shocked when he was fired last week as North Rowan’s head football coach and athletics director?
He was even more flabbergasted when he read one of the reasons principal Rodney Bass gave as to why:
Cutshaw “didn’t have the total sense of community.”
Cutshaw points out that Bass has been the principal at North for three years. Bass lives on the other side of Winston-Salem in Kernersville.
Total sense of community? Puh-leeze.
If there is ever a need for a college professor in “How Not To Fire a Coach 101” Cutshaw is sure Bass is your man.
On Monday, June 9, Cutshaw was working on pass routes with his players.
“We had some really good-looking, young kids,” he said. “I was thinking we had a chance to be really good next season.”
At the same time, Cutshaw said he was was sending film to North Carolina Central for Steven Hunter. He was helping Lathan Charleston get into a football camp.
Cutshaw came to school on Tuesday, the last teachers’ workday, feeling upbeat to say the least.
“Football is right around the corner,” Cutshaw said. “It gets you energized watching those kids. That’s what I enjoy about it. It’s all I’ve done for 29 years.”
At lunchtime, Cutshaw said Bass called him into the principal’s office.
Cutshaw found out he was through enjoying those North Rowan kids.
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Cutshaw had been to Bass’ office plenty of times. But when the door was closed behind him, he knew this was serious.
“My gut feeling was, ‘This is not going to be good.’ ” he said.
Cutshaw said Bass told him he’d have to put on the black hat and that Cutshaw’s jobs were being terminated as of Friday.
“It was that quick,” Cutshaw said.
While his wife, Ruby, the assistant athletics director, was transferred to Knox Middle School, Cutshaw left thinking he still had a P.E. job at North. That is, until Delores Morris of the school system’s personnel department sent him a certified letter saying he was being transferred to West Rowan Middle to teach enrichment.
What?
“At least she was professional about it,” Cutshaw said. “She wanted me to know I still had a position in Rowan County. That needs to come from your administration. If you’ve got the courage to release me from my duties, at least have the courage to tell me I’m not going to be there teaching. Tell me before everybody in the community finds out about it.”
Cutshaw isn’t going to West Middle. He had already decided to retire.
“It happened so late,” Cutshaw said. “It left me no alternative. It really hurt our family in a big way.”
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As soon as Bass mentioned the community, you could practically hear every coach in Rowan County gnashing their teeth. Regardless of rivalries, coaches stick together, especially against know-it-all parents who bombard the administration with complaints.
“I’ve gotten a lot of support from coaches in Rowan County,” Cutshaw said. “That makes you feel you’ve done something right. I appreciate those guys.”
Are parents running the show at North Rowan? Cutshaw says yes.
Roger Secreast, whom Cutshaw replaced, used to chuckle about his “fan club” sitting on the 30-yard line. They quickly became Cutshaw’s “fan club” when he took over six years ago.
“They know more than any high school football coach,” Cutshaw scoffed. “If they are watching football on Sunday, they know more than any NFL coach.
“That’s the type of fans who control job security, and that’s not right.”
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Bass, of course, says that isn’t the case.
But the bottom line is Cutshaw did not have a career that deserved a firing.
– He has two Central Carolina Conference championship rings in his six seasons. Doesn’t that mean something?
– He had winning records against all of the CCC teams except Salisbury (2-4) and Ledford (3-3).
– He was 38-35 overall but was 0-12 against West Rowan, Thomasville and A.L. Brown. A lot of coaches would have had that record against those teams.
Cutshaw pointed out that, in Bass’ first year, North was 9-4 and co-champion of the CCC. In Bass’ second year, North was 8-5. Both years, it went to the second round of the playoffs.
This past year, North was 5-7, but four of those losses were by three points or less. A nine or 10-win season could have been a reality with a decent kicker.
“If we had never had a winning season or conference championship, this would have never happened,” Cutshaw said. “I would have done it myself. I didn’t think we were that bad. We had a lot of exciting football games. I think we touched a lot of kids at North.”
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As an athletics director, he found a program in the hole financially and tried to pinch enough pennies where every team received new uniforms in rotation during his tenure.
“We were also there for every sport,” Cutshaw said. “When a team went to the playoffs, you saw us. There were more positive things happening than negative things.”
But the biggest negative for Cutshaw is he is now out of a job.
“This is not collegiate football,” Cutshaw said. “We don’t recruit our players. We have to play the cards we’re dealt. We have great kids at North Rowan. We did the best with what we had.”
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Cutshaw heard that people were blaming him for North going down to the 1A classification. All the Cutshaws did was accept it and try to make a positive out of it.
“You know as well as I do that the state is going to put you where your ADM (average daily membership) numbers are,” he said. “It’s not like we went to the state and said we need to play 1A. We had no choice. We were going to live with it for two years and, if our numbers went back up, we’d go back to 2A. I had no hidden agenda.”
Bass said he noticed how the stands lacked fans on Friday nights.
“They talk about declining attendance at athletic events,” Cutshaw said. “Well, when your enrollment drops, your attendance is going to drop. That’s not my fault.”
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Cutshaw said he’ll miss talking to former North coach Larry Thomason, who was always there for him, and assistant principal Don Knox, “who I have the utmost respect for.”
But he’ll really miss those kids. If a coach isn’t in place until the end of the month, that leaves little time to prepare.
“July 4 week is when people go on vacation,” he pointed out. “The coaches go the coaches clinic in Greensboro two weeks later. You put them behind the 8-ball.”
The 50-year-old Cutshaw is planning on sitting out six months and then coming back as an assistant or head coach somewhere.
“Bass knew this was coming,” Cutshaw said. “He could’ve told me at the end of football season. At least give me a chance to look for something as an assistant somewhere.”
Cutshaw has been relaxing as he comes to grips with not being able to coach at North Rowan. He has had time to fish, for instance. But it is tearing him up inside thinking about that first day of football practice.
“It will be an empty feeling, that’s for sure,” he said. “It’s hard to give up what you’ve done all your life.
“I had enough days to retire, but I wanted to do it on my own time frame, not forced into it.”
A light seemed to go off in Cutshaw’s head.
“I’ve got a brilliant idea,” he said. “I can put Rodney Bass and North Rowan in a win-win situation.”
He said Bass should call a boosters club meeting, pass out applications and call in the community to pick the next coach.
“Obviously,” he sighed, “that’s the way they’re going to get rid of one.”
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.