By Bob Suttton
Special to The Alamance News
As John Kirby tells it, weeks ago he received an invitation to be a guest at a preseason high school football gathering.
By the time coaches and select players from around Alamance County met earlier this month, Kirby was back on stage in a role as head coach.
Indeed, Kirby is returning to the Eastern Alamance sideline on an interim basis for this year. That has sparked interest and curiosity in the Eagles.
Kirby said he’s merely a caretaker for the season during this latest transition. But the Eagles aren’t intending on going through the motions after their first losing record in 20 years.
“Everyone wants to win now,” senior defensive end Jarrett Newell said. “Everybody wants to be here.”
Receiver Douglas Kittrells, Jr. said the seniors were tasked with keeping the focus on football despite changes around them.
“It’s going to get better,” Kittrells said. “You’re going to come in and improve.”
Linebacker Isaiah Hairston said the sudden change with Kirby’s return can be viewed various ways.
“It’s a little different, a little same,” he said.
Regardless, the Eagles don’t want that to define their 2025 season.
The coaching change came when Mitch Mitchener, after one season with the Eagles, was forced out of the coaching position in June. A couple of months after the 2023 season, Kirby had retired following 32-plus seasons in charge of the varsity Eagles and 39 years overall in the district.
“I was on the guest list, and then it changed,” he said.
He credited assistant coaches with keeping things in order.
For Kirby, maintaining pride in the program and community is important.
“It’s my school,” he said. “When you’ve graduated from there and coached there for 39 years, you think it’s your school.”
For most of the Eastern players, they grew up familiar with Kirby-coached teams. So they haven’t sensed the awkwardness that might otherwise have come with a June coaching change.
“I’m excited to have Coach Kirby because I had him since I was a freshman,” quarterback Zack Merchel said. “At first, I think we adapted really well. . . I think everyone is back on track now.”
So the transition to hearing Kirby’s voice again seemed natural.
“Everybody shows him so much respect and they feel comfortable with him,” senior linebacker Kasen McGinnis said.
Senior receiver Tyler Westbrooks said: “He coached both my brothers. It seems the same.”
Beyond the coaching topic, there’s the issue of restoring matters on the field.
Kittrells will be in his third season as a starting receiver and is adding work as a defensive back. He said the Eagles have learned from the past.
“Just staying focused as a team, staying on each other’s butts,” Kittrells said. “It doesn’t always go as you plan.”
The offense frequently sputtered last year, but the defense proved to be stout for much of the 2024 season.
“We’ve got a good group of guys on defense,” McGinnis said.
Now the Eagles, with an old coach and a fresh start, find out how this all meshes.
“It feels alive,” Hairston said.
