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Hibriten selects Lewis as coach

By Chris Hobbs | Hickory Daily Record

Published: January 13, 2010

LENOIR - Clay Lewis, who has been through the highs and lows of Hibriten High football over the past 21 years, is ready to keep the Panthers' program moving forward.

Lewis, a former linebacker at South Robeson High, East Carolina and Lenoir-Rhyne University, was named Tuesday as Hibriten's new head football coach.

He is the sixth Panthers head coach since he came to Hibriten in 1989. And he's the guy Chuck Cannon, the head coach who is resigning after 11 seasons, says most deserves a shot at being the big boss.

"Loyalty is very important to me," Cannon said. "No (one) coach can be successful. It's the assistant coaches who make the program, and I need to give them a chance to progress professionally.

"I'm not sick. I'm not quitting. I am just stepping down to let someone else have an opportunity. He's earned his shot."

Cannon also cited the time needed to be a full-time athletic director and having much more family time as reasons for his decision to make a change — one made easier, he said, by having a key assistant coach to step in as head coach.

"They (his football players) deserve to have a little more energy than I have to give them," said Cannon, who will continue as AD, a job he took 11 years ago. "If they are to continue to play and succeed at the level they are used to, somebody else needs to be driving the ship."

On Tuesday, Lewis said he has mixed feelings about Cannon's decision but is excited about his first head-coaching job.

"We're kinda establishing a tradition of being good, of playing solid football," Lewis said. "Each year, we've been getting a little bit better and a little bit better. He (Cannon) has built a program.

"I always believed we were gonna get it turned around, that we'd get better, and that's one reason I stayed. It's just home to me now."

When Lewis came to Hibriten to work for Tim Poarch in 1989, the Panthers went 1-9. They were 3-7 the next year, when Bob Henson was head coach, then had back-to-back 0-10 seasons.

After going 1-9 in Randy Baldwin's first season (1993), Hibriten went 6-5 and 8-5 and then, over three seasons under Donnie Keifer, they were 17-17.

The Panthers did not win a conference game in 1999, Cannon's first year, and went 2-9 overall. But after going 7-14 the next two years, the program began a drastic turn and a streak of postseason berths that is now eight straight years.

Hibriten has won eight or more games in six of the last eight seasons, 10 or more five times in that span and has gone 25-3 the last two seasons. In the mix are three conference titles and a share of another.

The Panthers won the Northwestern 3A-4A title last season and went 13-1, leaving Cannon's 11-year record there at 84-54.

Lewis' first team is expected to return 26 rising seniors and the Panthers junior varsity finished 3-7. He will debut as head coach on Aug. 20 in a home game against Freedom.