Cougars open play with lots of experience in their corner

ASHEBORO — High school football coaches can teach offensive formations, defensive strategies and special teams techniques. But the one area that can’t be taught is experience, and when it comes to experience, very few can match the number of years Southwestern Randolph High School coaches Donnie Baxter and Charlie Chapman have given to the sport.

The former head coaches spend all week on the football field helping to prepare the Cougars for the upcoming game and then head up to the press box on Friday nights for a bird-eyes view of what transpires on the field, which at SWRHS has been named Charlie Chapman Field.

The two longstanding mentors and the rest of the SWR coaching staff are preparing the Cougars for their state 2-A playoff battle this Friday night.

When there are two incredibly knowledgeable sources who are available and are more than willing to provide their football expertise, a coaching staff becomes very fortunate.

“They both enjoy it and they both love it,” said SWR head coach Seth Baxter, the son of Donnie Baxter. “You get to learn from two legendary Hall of Famers. They do everything the right way. They love the kids and they love Southwestern Randolph and they love being here each day giving back to the community.”

The Baxters and Chapmans have been a part of the SWR athletics and administration for almost as long as there have been athletics at SWR. 

Donnie Baxter has served as principal and coach, Seth was an SWR graduate before beginning his coaching career, and Charlie Chapman was the head football coach and athletic director before his son Chris, an SWR graduate, was a coach and is now the athletic director at SWR. The elder Baxters have been involved in numerous athletics at SWR.

“I don't know what else I can do,” said Charlie Chapman, who began his teaching and coaching careers at Star Middle School in 1972. “I have always been around athletics. I enjoy the relationships with the players. 

“One thing I enjoy is watching the kids develop. Right now, at Southwestern, a lot of the Booster Club members are former players. It’s so good to see how they have developed into good young men, good fathers and successful in doing what they are doing right now.”

Chapman, who also spent many years at Asheboro and time at Eastern Randolph high schools, was the head football coach at SWR from 1985-1996. He led the Cougars to their first-ever state playoff appearance.

He is a member of the AHS and SWR Hall of Fame and has acted as conference commissioner for both the Mid-Piedmont Conference and Piedmont Athletic Conference, a position he currently holds.

When Seth Baxter returned to SWR in 2018 after a stint at ER as head coach, he told Chapman the only way he would return is if Chapman joined the coaching staff.

Chapman was more than happy to do just that and join Donnie on the sidelines.

‘“Donnie and I started coaching together when Chris, my son, and Seth started playing T-ball,” Chapman said. “We go way back. YMCA basketball, Little League, Pony, Bronco and basketball. We have coached together a long time. 

“He is the most prepared person you will ever meet. He's an outstanding person, a friend who if I needed something right now, I could pick up the phone and he’d be there.”

The feeling is, obviously, mutual.

“Close, close friends,” Donnie Baxter said of his relationship with Chapman. “Deep respect, always have had that. I brought him along with me when I first went to Southwestern (as a principal). He’s a joy to be around and always been a workaholic. I have never seen anyone with a better rapport with athletes than he does.”

Donnie Baxter is one of the most decorated coaches and administrators in the history of the NCHSAA. His more than 45-year teaching, coaching and administrative career began after he received a B.S. from Appalachian State and a Masters Degree from UNCG. His travels have taken him to Cameron, Ellerbe, Asheboro, Lexington, Eastern Randolph, Southwestern Randolph and the Randolph County Central Office.

He served as Chairman and long-term member of the NCHSAA Nominating Committee and was on the Realignment Committee. He was President of four different conferences and was Chairman of several Basketball Sectional Committees. The NCHSAA recognized him with the Award of Merit and with Regional and State Awards.

Baxter coached the Wildcats to the 1983 state football championship and his 1981 baseball team finished as state runners-up. 

In his first five years as an administrator, he was twice selected as Randolph County Schools’ “Principal of the Year,” including his first year on the job.

There may not be a Hall of Fame in the state that doesn’t include Donnie Baxter. He is in the NC High School Athletic Associations Hall of Fame (2012), the George Whitfield Baseball Hall of Fame and was recognized by the NCHSAA as a member of the “100 to Remember” list as the organization celebrated their 100th year anniversary in January of 2014. In January of 2017, he was named as a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor. He was also inducted into the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame in March of 2018. Most Recently, he was inducted into the Eastern Randolph Hall of Fame in August of 2018 and into the SWRHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023. 

There are numerous other honors in both administration and athletics.

“Teaching fundamentals and seeing that light go on,” Baxter said of why he’s been in the profession so long. “It’s just like seeing that light go on in the classroom. I have been around it all my life.”

Then there’s the excitement of coaching with his son.

“It’s great, it's like a dream come true,” Baxter said. “He’s been around it all his life. Our family doesn’t know anything but education. To see him grow as a coach and be successful as a coach has been a joy.”

There are certainly other coaches who have spent a quite impressive number of years coaching in Randolph County. Randleman’s Marty Collinson, Eastern Randolph’s Burton Cates and Ed Tysinger and Trinity High School’s Mike Sink are just a few. 

“It's unbelievable the amount of time they have done,” Seth Baxter said of his assistant coaches. “I would bet they have coached longer individually than anyones on our staff's age. Having them with us will not last forever, so being together now, we are thankful and blessed.”

So is the Southwestern Randolph High School community.