Randleman hires new football coach

RANDLEMAN — David Diamont said he knew how fortunate he was to grow up with a father who was one of the top high school football coaches in the state of North Carolina. Diamont said he knows how instrumental his father was in shaping his coaching tendencies and his coaching beliefs.

And like any coach working his way through the high school ranks, Diamont knew a few years back, he needed to embark on his own coaching journey, leaving the comfort and security of working near his father to begin his own coaching legacy.

After three very successful years as offensive coordinator at Burns High School in Shelby, Diamont is taking another step up the coaching ladder as he was named Randleman High School’s new head coach on Friday. It will be his first head coaching position.

Diamont, 35, takes over for Shane Timmons, who resigned to be able to spend more time with his family. Timmons has accepted a far-less time consuming position with Providence Grove High School.

Diamont has spent time at Watauga High School, East Surry, North Stokes, South Stokes and Burns.

“The Randleman football program has been an established winning program,” Diamont said. “From an outsider, you tend to look at the playoffs. That’s your end-goal, to make the playoffs and make some noise in the playoffs, and you see Randleman consistently being one of the top seeds in the West (Region) and that captures your attention. I have heard only great things about the program, the tradition, the community and the administration.”

The Tigers finished 9-3 last year, advancing to the second round of the state 2-A playoffs.

“I think he’s proven himself where he’s been at,” RHS Athletic Director Jake Smith said. “He’s young, energetic and this is a perfect spot for him. His energy, his work ethic. His knowledge. His passion for the game. He brings all that and he can develop relationships with the kids.”

Diamont will report to RHS on Monday, where he will be in the Physical Education Department and handle all the weight lifting classes.

Diamont’s father, David Diamont, was one of the legendary coaches in NCHSAA history. He won 252 games at East Surry and was honored when the school named the football stadium for him. Overall, the elder Diamont had a 291-153 coaching record. 

In addition to teaching and coaching, the elder Diamont served 20 years in the North Carolina House of Representatives. In 1989, he was named chairperson of the House Appropriations Committee.

“It's really kind of all I knew,” Diamont said of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a high school football coach and teacher. “When you live at the fieldhouse and the football field, running the football in on Friday nights and lining fields, it’s kind of all I knew. 

“Looking back at it, I am extremely grateful for having the passions I do for the sport, the game. There’s just a compassion to compete. Football is a very special sport.”

Diamont, who graduated from East Surry High School in 2008, earned a degree in education from Appalachian State. 

Prior to graduating, he began his coaching career. While at ASU, he worked as an assistant coach at Watauga High School under head coach Tim Pruitt. He helped there for two seasons before graduating and heading to East Surry, where he was a member of his father’s coaching staff while he completed his student-teaching requirement.

Diamont then went to West Stokes High School and worked under longtime coach Jimmy Upchurch. He spent five seasons at West Stokes, acting as co-defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator the last two seasons (2017 and 2018).

He coached in middle school in 2019, while also assisting his father at the high school level and then went to South Stokes, serving as his father’s defensive coordinator. In 2021, he was named the offensive coordinator at South Stokes.

He decided to continue his coaching career at Burns High School in 2022.

“When you grow up in a small community and when your father and you have the same first name and the same last name and you are doing the same thing he is doing, you’re known as Coach Diamont’s son,” Diamont said. “In 2022, I wanted to take a calculated risk and move away and create my own name, my own legacy.”

He said his father taught him so many traits of being a successful coach.

“I learned through him what it looked like to be a good role model as well as a true servant to the community,” Diamont said. “That was always unwavering. No matter the type of season he had, he was always a good role model and a true servant to the community. 

“He generally cared for the kids and student-athletes. He wanted them to grow up and serve in their communities. I take a lot of pride in that.”

In his first season as offensive coordinator for Burns, the Bulldogs averaged 42.3 points per game, won the conference title and in the playoffs defeated Moorehead, rival Shelby, Salisbury and Monroe before falling to Reidsville in the West Regional finals. 

Burns finished 8-4 the past two seasons, advancing to the second round of the state playoffs each year. 
“It’s an expectation and a standard,” Diamont said of his years at Burns. “We fear no one, but respect everyone.”

Now he makes the move to RHS.

“Coming in, I want to immerse myself in the Randleman community,” he said. “It’s very, very important to establish strengths and weaknesses, build relationships with the coaching staff and student-athletes. I will sit down with my assistant coaches and listen. I am coming in with a full staff and that was a box that was checked.”

Coaching at Randleman, Diamont said, was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.    

“I have to mention my former head coaches,” Diamont added. “I am very fortunate and thankful I waited a little bit because over the time, I have learned an exponential amount of football. About doing things the right way. I am very thankful to (RHS Principal Corey Phillips) and Coach Smith for leading this already renowned Tiger football program. I hope to build on that success that has been established there by my predecessors.”