High School Sports
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Huneycutt steps down as coach
His Thomasville basketball teams were 429-128 and won five state titles
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Published: June 23, 2009
For several years, Woody Huneycutt confided in people that he wasn't sure how much longer he would coach boys basketball at Thomasville High School.
Yesterday, Huneycutt made it official -- he has coached the last game of what has been a brilliant career.
Huneycutt, who compiled a record of 429-128 and led the Bulldogs to five state championships in 21 seasons, has officially resigned as coach. He said he will remain at Thomasville as a physical-education and health teacher and as athletics director.
"It's been a long run, 21 years at it, and I have enjoyed it," Huneycutt, 52, said. "Great kids and a great place to be. The AD stuff is getting tougher and tougher, with all the things you have to do, and this way I can spend a little more time with that and a little more time with the family.
"I was getting a little bit tired. I have been thinking about it for a couple of years. When the season ended, I thought that was it, but I didn't want to knee-jerk it. I waited and thought about it, and it was a tough call."
Principal Dirk Gurley of Thomasville said: "Woody has had a great career, and it will be hard to replace him in that capacity, but I think he is getting to that point we all do at times. I know he has a mountain house and wants to spend time with his family.
"He will still be around the school as an AD and teacher but we will miss him in the basketball program."
The search is on at Thomasville for a new coach, and Gurley said it would be open to people inside and outside the school system.
The next coach will have big shoes to fill.
Huneycutt's teams won 15 regular-season conference titles and 14 conference tournaments, and the new coach will inherit a 29-game winning streak in conference-tournament games that started in 1998.
In the playoffs, Huneycutt's Bulldogs were fierce, winning 11 sectional titles and six Western Regional titles and going 52-14 overall, including 5-1 in state finals. Thomasville won its last title under Huneycutt in 2007, taking the NCHSAA 1-A crown.
"Anytime you leave something you love, it's tough," Huneycutt said. "The toughest part of it was my youngest daughter. She really didn't want me to do this. She is a sophomore cheerleader here, and I felt bad about it, but I felt like this was the right time. I will try to be the best AD I can be here.
"It's going to be tough. It's been most of my life. It's going to seem strange and seem different. But I will still be here and be around, and I will be at all the ballgames, and I will still have touch with the kids. I am going to be right here and try not to get in the way."
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