ROWLAND — After four straight appearances in the NCHSAA 1A state playoffs, South Robeson football coach Clay Jernigan missed the postseason for the first time after winning just one game in his fifth year at the helm. On Tuesday night, the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County accepted his resignation, ending the longest current tenure at one program for any head coach in the county.
“I been there five years and I think it’s time for somebody new to come in,” Jernigan said about the decision following one of the most challenging stretches in 30 years of coaching. “I think it’s just, sometimes, you get to a plateau where instead of moving up, it just planes out.”
Since taking over in 2014, the Mustangs have posted an 11-48 record, and this season’s 1-10 setback snapped a six-year streak of making the playoffs for the school. Jernigan noticed a change in the excitement level of the team throughout a year that saw 40 players on the roster dwindle to just 24 by the season finale loss to St. Pauls.
He says the conversation with South Robeson principal Jonathan Blue regarding the resignation, detailed the concerns he had of losing a connection with the group.
“I told [Blue], ‘I enjoy mowing the field. I enjoy painting the field. I even enjoy doing the laundry. But when 3:30 comes and as a head coach, you got all these excuses and getting phone calls [from players]…that’s a lot of wear and tear,’” said Jernigan.” It’s just not like it was when I was growing up and you wanted to play football…you had your school work, but everything else was second.”
Whether it was disciplinary, academic, or just flat out quitting, the veteran coach had problems finding reliable guys to practice and dress out on Fridays. South Robeson ended with just three seniors by the end of the year.
Though he had to struggle through a trying season, being a son of a football coach with 40-plus years of experience, Jernigan has inherited a deep passion for the sport. He says he still has ambitions of coaching elsewhere. As of now, he doesn’t exactly know where or at what capacity, but he mentioned that he’s “keeping his options open” and won’t limit himself to a particular position or county. Factoring into the decision will undoubtedly be his wife, who he joked won’t move “unless it’s toward the beach.”
Whenever and wherever the next stop is, the vivacious leader vowed that he will carry his personality with him.
“I enjoy being around the kids…I like the competition and honestly, I like the hard work. I’ve always done that,” Jernigan said.
