LANDIS — One of the questions Daniel Yow was asked by the panel searching for South Rowan’s next head football coach went like this:

“Opponents always schedule us for homecoming. What are you going to do about that?”

“I guess we’ll have to ruin some homecomings,” Yow replied.

It was the right answer and was spoken with just the right degree of bravado and enthusiasm. Yow starts his duties as South Rowan’s coach on Tuesday. He’s just the sixth head football coach in the history of a school that opened in 1961.

He is the first coach South Rowan has hired who wasn’t already part of the Rowan football scene, but after a five-year struggle of 2-9, 1-9, 2-8, 0-11 and 3-8, principal Kelly Withers wasn’t limiting her options.

“Football is important to this school and this school is very important to this community,” she said. “We didn’t exclude anyone from the coaching search, inside or outside the program.”

Withers said there were more than 40 applicants for a position that Jason Rollins, who led the Raiders for nine seasons, resigned from in January.  Withers said 12 contenders were interviewed in a thorough quest for the right coach. The search committee tossed tough questions at Yow three times before deciding he was the guy for the job.

“His energy and his desire separated him,” Withers said. “His energy comes across loud and clear.”

A physical education and weightlifting teacher, Yow was a baby-faced offensive lineman in his playing days at Catawba. That baby face is now partially disguised by a beard.

“I turned 30 in December,” Yow said. “I grew the beard because I was tired of looking 13.”

Yow is married and has a 3-year-old son.  He lives in Concord and will commute through the Enochville countryside to South Rowan. It’s a peaceful drive he can execute in about 25 minutes.

Yow was a good player at Mount Pleasant High. At Catawba, he progressed steadily from redshirt to backup to starter to standout. He absorbed life lessons as well as football from Chip Hester, his head coach at Catawba. Yow wants his South Rowan team to be “fast, physical and first class.”

That phrase was always a Hester staple.

“Coach Hester emphasized how important it is for the football team to be a part of the community and how important it is to be good people off the field,” Yow said.

After graduating from Catawba, Yow spent three seasons at Salisbury High working under coach Joe Pinyan, who now coaches South Rowan’s rival Carson. Yow was part of the Hornets’ 2010 state championship.

His next stop was Hickory Ridge, a member of the South Piedmont Conference like South Rowan.

In three seasons at Hickory Ridge, Yow became an integral part of the athletics department. He was head track coach and head wrestling coach in addition to coaching the outside linebackers for the football team. The last two seasons, he was defensive coordinator for head coach Marty Paxton.

Yow’s knowledge of both sides of the ball impressed the search committee. As someone with coordinator experience, he knows what it’s like preparing to stop Concord or West Rowan on a Friday night.

“Coach Pinyan had a great offensive mind, while Coach Paxton is defensive minded,” Yow said. “I learned a lot from both of them, and coach Paxton groomed me to be a head coach. I asked all of my coaches about putting in for the South Rowan job. All of them recommended that I go for it.”

Yow is realistic about the situation he’s entering. South Rowan is the smallest school in a league that will swell to 10 members for the 2015-16 school year. The Raiders have enjoyed one winning football season (2009) in the last 11 years. The challenging 2015 schedule will be nine SPC games, plus A.L. Brown and Salisbury.

South Rowan went 3-8 in 2014, and that was with a senior-heavy team.

“I know it will be an uphill battle at first,” Yow said. “We’re going to work as hard as we can and build the best staff we can. Every player here has a clean slate and we’ll get things going in the right direction,”

As far as X’s and O’s, Yow believes in a multiple-look, odd-front defense and the triple-option offense.

Talented returning running back Jamorya Cousin is impressed by Yow. He’s glad the Raiders have a leader in place.

“It’s hard when you go for a while without a football coach,” Cousin said. “Because you know other teams are working.”

Now the Raiders are ready to work. They’ll try to reduce their excessive number of appearances as homecoming guests.

“Hickory Ridge has scheduled South for homecoming,” Yow said with a smile. “But no hard feelings.”