North Davidson Hires New Coach

From the Lexington Dispatch.


North hires new coach for football job

By JASON QUEEN
The Dispatch

WELCOME | The calendar says March, but the topic of the day was football at North Davidson Friday. The Black Knights named Tasker Fleming as their new head football coach around lunchtime, when he was introduced to the staff and all returning North players. The former head coach at Northern Vance replaces Mark Holcomb, who stepped down at the end of last season to work solely as an assistant principal at North.

Fleming, with 16 years of head coaching experience at various stops around the state, couldn't have been happier with the chance to take over a program with such a rich history.

"I've been back around my hometown at Northern Vance the past two years, and then this opportunity came open," he said. "I'm very excited about a job with such tradition. I can't wait to get started.

"I'll be in town sporadically until the first of June, then I'll be here full-time."

Holcomb announced the signing because North principal Steve Fishel was out of town on vacation, which is one thing Holcomb will look forward to without the countless hours required to coach high school football.

"It's going to be hard during August when practice starts, but I'm going on vacation," Holcomb said with a laugh. "This is just a different chapter in my life, and I'm ready to move on."

As part of the selection committee, Holcomb had a lot of input in naming his replacement.

"We quit accepting applications the middle of February, and we had 51 applicants," said Holcomb. "We narrowed it down and interviewed the top applicants, and he came out on top.

"He felt very comfortable, and the committee felt very comfortable with him. He's been a head coach for 16 years, so that's obviously one thing we liked. And you could tell he had a genuine concern for the kids, both athletically and academically."

A 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fleming has coached most recently at Northern Vance. The Vikings went 6-4 in his first year, then finished 4-6 last year after moving up to 3-A competition. He coached at St. Paul's prior to his tenure at Northern Vance, and in 2003 led the Bulldogs to 10-2 record and served as an assistant in the East-West Shrine Bowl.

Although he's not from this area, he has heard about the enthusiasm steeped in North Davidson football.

"I have an uncle who's lived in Midway the last 25 years, and one of my assistants graduated from North," Fleming said. "And just to hear them talk about the school and the football here, I am so excited and just looking so forward to this opportunity.

"And I'm a family man. I have a ninth grader, a seventh grader, a sixth grader and a 2-year-old, and I really feel good about this school and the environment for them. This is a high-performance school, and I'm just elated with the opportunity I have here."

Fleming, 42, is a 1981 graduate of Warren Academy. His children are Clay, Morgan, Madison and Matthew, and his wife's name is Traci.

While he liked the Vance County area, it has been hit hard by the struggles of the economy that have devastated the entire region.

"Vance County has the third-highest unemployment rate in the state, and some of those issues spill over into the schools," he said. "I think parents do the best they can, but it does make a difference."

That aside, the start of summer workouts and camps can't come soon enough.

"I've met the coaches already, and we have a solid staff. It's just a matter of getting going, and coach Holcomb really left me in good shape."

 

Baseball

I hope N. Davidson's new football coach has more class than their current baseball coach - what a tool. He and his staff may be the biggest bunch of winers on earth. They protested the game against E. Rowan last night because the umpires were from a different association than the umpires he uses and claims that the conference by-laws say that the umpires have to come from the same association.... I'm sure he blamed his loss last night on the umpires - the play at 2nd to end the game was a clean slide directly into the base, just because his stupid SS was standing in the basepath and got taken out was not the umpire's fault.

 

I was not at the game, so I can't comment on the call, but I think you are being a bit harsh here. If the conference states that the umpires need to come from an association the conference names, then every team should abide by that. I don't know the rule, but I don't think Coach Meadows just made that up out of nowhere. I'm not saying Coach Hightower and E. Rowan is trying to cheat through the umpires. I've known Hightower for many years and I've played with many ER guys - they are intense but respect the game tremendously. I'm also sure that the umpires were doing the best job they could. They don't care who wins, they get paid either way. I do, however, take some offense with you calling a High School kid "stupid". That is going a bit too far. N. Davidson's regular shortstop is hurt and the kid you call "stupid" is playing out of position for the benefit of his team.

 

Nine:

I agree with you that know player should be called stupid. This is the kind of post you see on NCPREPS, probably a player or student, hopefully adults don't act that way.

BTW, I was not at the game, nor do I care which team won.

 

i may be wrong but isnt this a football thread?

 

Seems this person doesn't know much about class. Rules are made for a reason, any good coach would approach this issue and not let is slide. He knows the rules of the game, he is a very respected coach find some class yourself instead of calling a kid stupid! Are you just one of those wanna be ball players or a wanna be coach? Also, why start this message under the football forum?? Do you know the difference between baseball and football?