New Owen football coach right at home in the Swannanoa Valley
John Faircloth tells Warhorses he’s where he wants to be
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
January 30, 2024
John Faircloth introduces himself, Jan. 30, as the new head coach of the Owen Warhorse football team. Photo by Fred McCormick
There were only two jobs in Western N.C. that could have persuaded former R-S Central head football coach John Faircloth to leave Rutherford County, he told dozens of Owen athletes, Jan. 30, in the school’s auditorium.
“I’m talking about a position I would apply for, and if I got it, delete my resume,” the Swannanoa Valley resident and Mars Hill University graduate said. “This was one of them, and that’s because of the tradition and history here.”
As the Erwin native introduced himself as the third Owen football head coach since 2021, he asked his players for their trust and commitment.
Faircloth’s coaching career has included stints as a defensive graduate assistant at Colorado State University and coaching assignments at Black Hills State University (S.D.) and Mars Hill. A high school coaching career in the mountains, however, offered stability for his young family.
“When COVID hit, I was home for fourth months and my wife had been to 40 states with me because of football,” he said. “The first day back home, I cried, because I felt my calling was to come back to the place we call home and dedicate my life to working at this level.”
His children, he added, attend school in the Owen District.
“This is where I want to be,” Faircloth said. “This is the Valley, and looking at the wall downstairs, this team has won a lot of conference championships, with the last one in 2014. It’s not like the cupboards are bare, we’re just sleeping.”
Growing up in a former small mill town in Harnett County offers insight into the community around Owen, which takes its name from the founder of Beacon Manufacturing Co.
“Erwin, N.C. was the largest distributor of blue jeans in the world, at one point in time, and that mill was everything,” Faircloth said. “We had tradition, backbone and discipline, but one day that mill left. We went dormant, like a volcano.”
Channeling that small town heritage into Warhorse football is “our battle,” he told the players.
“This is your team, and your town,” Faircloth said. “We’re just dormant, but in about seven months, get ready to work hard.”
Former R-S Central head football coach John Faircloth meets his new Owen players, Jan. 30, when he was introduced as the third Warhorse coach since 2021. Photo by Fred McCormick
Faircloth will teach physical education and health at Owen, according to first-year principal Dawn Rookey. His commitment to the community and school set him apart from the 24 applicants and five finalists for the position, which opened when Zach Gibson resigned last December after two seasons.
“He is the only applicant that told me, ‘I want to be at Owen,’ and not that he wanted to be a football coach,” Rookey said of Faircloth. “He said that Owen was his dream job, and that really stood out to me.”
The school formed an eight-person committee to facilitate the search for the “right fit,” according tot he principal.
“We had Anthony Lee, Bradley McMahan, Adrian Boone and assistant coaches Deputy Matt Owenby and John Shaw, as well as myself and assistant principals Samantha McIntosh and Kim Mason,” Rookey said. “We wanted the committee to be a true representation of parents, people who knew football and supporters of the team. It was really important to me to have a true community perspective.”
Faircloth believes the Swannanoa Valley can restore the Warhorse football program to regional prominence, while recognizing the work that needs to be done.
“We need to establish ourselves at the ground floor with the youth league and middle school league and instill structure and discipline within our program,” he said. “We’ve got to be mad about the way things have been, and then it’s got to be The Valley vs. everybody.”
Coaching student-athletes who want to represent their community on the football field is the top priority, he told his players.
“We’re going to start at the bottom and work our way up, and I’m going to pour just as much into the young players at the middle school and youth levels as I am into you all,” Faircloth said. “I don’t want to beg players to play for me; I want guys who want to play for the Valley.”