Providence Grove hires football coach

CLIMAX — Providence Grove High School Principal Dennis Hamilton has hired many coaches during his administrative tenure at different schools. His latest hire had a unique beginning as he searched for his latest football coach.

Hamilton must have realized he had the guy he wanted on his staff, but before talking to that person, he had a conversation with the prospective coach’s wife. Once Hamilton got the go-ahead from her, he talked with PG assistant football coach and athletic director Cody Moran and offered him the position.

Moran was named the new coach late last week.

“The administration had already talked to my wife before they even talked to me,” said Moran, who has two small children with his wife Tiffany. “If she wasn’t on board, they would have never even talked to me.”

With one concession met — that being Moran would give up his AD duties in the fall to totally concentrate on football and resume those AD duties after the season — the whole Moran family was on board.

“I have been around a ton of great coaches,” said Moran, a Randleman High School graduate who played for Shane Handy, Brian Hughes and Shane Timmons, the latter who was recently added to the PG program in a limited capacity. 

“Seth Baxter is one of my best friends and I talk to him almost every day. You take some of the best stuff you have learned from different people over the years. There is stuff Calvin (Brown) did that hasn’t been done since he left that I really liked that I think will work. You take a lot of stuff from others and mix in stuff of your own. I’m really excited. I wish the football season started tomorrow.”

Moran, who has been an assistant football coach since arriving at PG in 2019, will be the fourth head coach for the Patriots in the past four seasons. After Brown ended a seven-year tenure, David Hayes took over for the 2023 season. He left after one year just prior to the new campaign and Mark Heilig stepped in to take over the interim head coaching duties.  

Moran has held down numerous roles on the football side while taking over athletic director duties the past two years. In football, he has been the running backs coach, the defensive line coach and he served as the defensive coordinator this past season.

"Coach Moran's knowledge of the game, his commitment to our students, and his passion for the community make him the ideal choice to lead our football program," stated a press release from the Providence Grove administration. "He is deeply embedded in our community, embodying the values of hard work, integrity, and pride in all that he does. We are excited to see him continue to elevate our football team and guide them to success. 

“We are excited about the future of the Patriots under his leadership."

The Patriots finished 3-7 last year, including a 2-3 mark in the Piedmont Athletic Conference. 

If the first draft of the realignment holds true, PG would be in a league with Wheatmore, Trinity, East Davidson, West Davidson and Thomasville. This would be a vast difference from the PAC, which featured Eastern Randolph, Randleman and Southwestern Randolph. The new league would not include ER, RHS or SWR, which went a combined 27-9 in football last season, and would replace them with ED, WD and Thomasville, which went a combined 12-20 on the football field last year.

“It’s a conference we can compete in,” Moran said of preparing for his first year as head coach. “We are still going to play Eastern Randolph in non-conference, we’re still going to play Randleman in non-conference, we’re still going to play Southwestern Randolph in non-conference. We already have them all on our schedule. We are not trying to run away from the competition. It gives our kids some confidence knowing we beat three of those new conference teams last year and we need to get a couple more.”

After graduating from Lees-McRae, Moran went back to RHS, where he was a history teacher and helped coach football. But one of the history positions was alleviated and Moran took a job at PGHS. He said he wasn’t sure about the move.

“When I left Randleman, Randleman was my dream job,” he said. “When I was told I had to leave Randleman, I was devastated. As a kid, you are molded by your head coach and my head coach Shane Handy had me believe they were our biggest rival. Why would I want to go there? 

“But after a month, I realized this place is very special. I was given the opportunity to leave, but I didn’t because God opened the door for me at Providence Grove. I will not leave on my own accord. I told the administration they have me for 20 or 30 years or until they run me off.”

Moran had an early message for his team, which met last week.

“I talked to them and talked about having the mindset to rise up,” he said. “To rise up not just in football, but rise up to be the man God wants you to be. Rise up to a new standard at Providence Grove.”

Moran gave each player and every faculty member at the school a bracelet with RISE printed on them. Rise stands for Respect, Integrity, Strength (both physical and mental) and Excellence. It is not only intended for football, but for every aspect in the person’s life.

“As coaches, we have to figure it out and make it fun,” Moran said. “We need to have fun and work our tails off to get where we want to be.”

Looks like a great first step has already been taken.