Coach Tommy Norwood(Ragsdale HS) will be going to St. James High School in South Carolina:”Coaches/AD’s Speak on Coach Tommy Norwood”

Head football coach Tommy Norwood, from Ragsdale High School will be going to St. James High School in Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina and he will be an assistant coach and Defensive Coordinator….

Coach Norwood was head football coach at Ragsdale for 19 years and coached at Ragsdale for 21 seasons and he was a head football coach in Guilford County for 31 years/seasons….

Coach Norwood has 36 years service in the Guilford County Schools system and with his sick leave, he has right at 38 years of service in the GCS system….

Tommy Norwood was the head coach at Southeast Guilford and at Ragsdale High Schools and now with his time spent in the Guilford County Schools system, he can go to South Carolina and draw his North Carolina retirement salary and also draw a full-time salary from the state of South Carolina and why stay up here and get paid one salary for the same amount of work, when you can go to South Carolina and get double your current salary…

For Coach Norwood, time to make the move and time to cash in…..He has served his time in Guilford County and has gone way beyond the age 52, “hit the road” mark for teachers and coaches….

The head coach at St. James High School is Joey Price and Coach Norwood first met Coach Price when they were coaching together on the NC-SC Shrine Bowl staff for the North Carolina team, back in 2002…

Coach Joey Price at St. James, previously was the head football coach at Wallace-Rose High School, in eastern North Carolina….

St. James High School has an enrollment of 1,600 students and the high school is 13 years old and St. James went (0-10) last season(2016)…..

Coach Norwood’s new school, St. James, has three lighted football practice fields available to be used by the football team and the band….Coach Norwood will be a full-time teacher and coach(football)….

When asked what Coach Tommy Norwood will miss most about leaving Ragsdale and the Jamestown, N.C. community, he said without hesitation, “the people”…..”Just great students, families and friends and the memories will last forever”……

*****Good luck to Coach Tommy Norwood, he is one of our last long-term coaching connections in Guilford County and he will leave for Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina this weekend and begin coaching at St. James High School, next Monday, July 17….Thanks Coach Norwood and most of all, thanks for the memories….Southeast Guilford back in the 80’s with Heath Calligan, Brent Morehead, Kevin Carder, Stanley Marrow, Phillip Strouth, Jamie Sealey, Scott Loosemore and many more and on to Ragsdale with Toney Baker, Emmanuel Byers, Doug Brown, DeSean Anderson, Billy Stone, Walt Sparks, Kasey Redfern, Larry Ogunjobi, Trevor Mullins, Wes Pope, Luke Heavner, Garrison Herndon, Eric Roemer, Tyler Ritter and the list goes on and on and on…..*****
+++++And we will be adding names and players to this list, I’m sure….+++++

On St. James High School from Google:
St. James High School is a public high school located west of Highway 17 on Highway 707 in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina approximately six miles from the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of 13 high schools in the Horry County School District.

They are the St. James High School Sharks and the school is just six miles from the Atlantic Ocean…..

Ragsdale Football was (4-7/2-3) in 2016…For his career and that is 31 years as a head coach, CarolinaPreps.com has Coach Tommy Norwood at
(222-138-2) for his career….
Ragsdale football over the years, going back through 2004 from MaxPreps and the best years were 2009 and 2008, with the Tigers going (13-1/6-0) both of those years….
2015(1-10/0-5)
2014(7-5/2-3)
2013(4-7/2-3)
2012(7-4/3-3)
2011(9-3/5-1)
2010(10-3/5-1)
2009(13-1/6-0)
2008(13-1/6-0)
2007(9-3/6-0)
2006(5=6/3-3)
2005(9-3/5-1)
2004(8-4/5-2)

+++++In 2014, Coach Tommy Norwood was a finalist for the head football coaching job at North Myrtle Beach High School and the other finalist, who along with Coach Norwood, did not get the job, was Joey Price, the coach that Tommy Norwood is getting ready to go to work for at St. James High School, in Murrell’s Inlet…Blair Hardin, from Morganton, Porter Ridge and points in-between, ended up getting the North Myrtle Beach job…
from June 9, 2014:
Late last week, the North Myrtle Beach administration selected Hardin over a pair of other N.C. coaches. Joey Price from Wallace-Rose Hill and Tommy Norwood of Ragsdale were the other two announced finalists.+++++

*****What they are saying…..
from Darryl Brown, head football coach at Grimsley High School:
“Tommy Norwood has been one of the biggest and most influential coaching influences on my career. Coach Norwood leaving Guilford County, to go down to coach in South Carolina, is like a changing of the guard…Much of the old guard is gone and Coach Norwood will be missed by all of those that coached with him, and against him in Guilford County…..It was a pleasure to work with him and an honor to go against him, whether it be with his teams at Ragsdale, or Southeast Guilford….Coach Norwood is a special person and you know he had to be making this move to benefit his family…Good Luck to him and we hope to see him in the future”….*****

+++++What does the future hold for Grimsley High School football??? Well in the near future, the Whirlies have Northeast Guilford at Grimsley for a 7 on 7 meeting beginning on Thursday morning at 9:30am….This will be the last 7 on 7 for Grimsley in the Summer of ’17…..Grimsley has a very strong/tough 5-game non-conference schedule waiting on them for the Fall of ’17, with Northern and Eastern Guilford on the map, from Guilford County, and from outside the county, Grimsley will be facing the Asheboro Blue Comets and Coach Kevin Gillespie, the East Forsyth Eagles and Coach Todd Willert and the Demons, from Winston-Salem Reynolds….Conference foes for the Fall include, Page, Northwest Guilford, High Point Central and Ragsdale…..+++++

+++++What they are saying from Ragsdale High School Athletics Director Brian Herndon…..+++++
Brian Herndon’s thoughts on Coach Tommy Norwood:
“Just a “Class Act”…On the field and in the classroom, a “Class Act”….”Even beyond the field, he helped my sons, Garrison and Colson and countless other kids to no end”….”He is getting to be an older man, but he stills has so much passion and exhibits so much youthfulness in the way he attacks his sport and the way he goes about his business is so professional”….”He coached his younger coaches and he coached them up, and made them better coaches and better people”….”He was a full-time football coach, he never stopped working”…..”Tommy Norwood was full of energy and he was a total ‘Team Player'”…….”I coached against him when he was the head coach at Southeast Guilford back in the 80’s and 90’s and I was the head coach at Ragsdale HS and was a coach who had ‘fire and passion’, but he treated everyone around him with respect”…..”To sum it up, we will sure miss him, but we wish him well. Everyone that came in contact with Tommy Norwood, while he was at Ragsdale High School and while he was in the Guilford County County Schools system, is better off for their time spent with Coach Norwood and again, we wish him nothing but the best in the future, as he continues his football coaching career, down in South Carolina”……

+++++What they are saying from Bill Slayton, former head football and baseball coach at Southeast Guilford High School….+++++
Coach Bill Slayton on coach and friend Tommy Norwood:
“I have known Coach Norwood for about 30 years”….”We have maintained a friendship for all of those years”….”He is a coach who is admired and respected by his players and his peers”….”Guilford County is losing a great coach and mentor to our youth, and St. James High School is gaining one of the finest coaches I have known”…..

$$$$$ More info coming up soon, in our next edition of, What they are saying…..$$$$$

10 thoughts on “Coach Tommy Norwood(Ragsdale HS) will be going to St. James High School in South Carolina:”Coaches/AD’s Speak on Coach Tommy Norwood”

  1. Great Man!, Great Family!, Great Friend!,and a Great Coach, So happy for this opportunity for him. The Ragsdale football family will miss him for sure. He better get ready for the Clampetts of Jamestown to come for a visit!

  2. from Twitter:
    Ragsdale Boosters
    @RagsdaleBooster
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    Best wishes on your new endeavors Coach! You will be missed! “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.”

  3. So you have put in your time with the system meaning you can literally retire. A job with a friend comes open at the coast. You are left with choosing to stay with the Guilford Co school system that has started charging kids to play sports. Or you can go live and play within 10 minutes of the ocean and keep all of your retirement money plus get extra dough. Honey we are moving south now!!! I did not know the guy but it appears he has received a sweet deal for football and life. Good luck and I am sure most of us wish we were in the same situation.

  4. Tommy Norwood is a class act. Been watching his program and a fan for 20 years. A regret he never won the big one but he sure coached some great players and always got the most out of his teams. Always had smart, disciplined offensive lines that played overcome lack of size. The long time and loyal assistant coaches are a testament to his character.

    The battles he had with Eastern Randolph and Dudley were epic. Ragsdale is going to miss Coach Norwood.

  5. Coach Norwood was a great coach and he sure helped a lot of kids in a number of sports and in life.

  6. Coach Norwood will be missed in Guilford County. Happy to see him make the most of his career and experience. He is a great football coach, mentor, and most of all friend to so many athletes. I have so much to thank him for in helping guide my football career and life. Congratulations Coach on a new career in SC. You are the best! Phil Strouth

  7. I saw Coach Norwood when he was coaching at Southeast Guilford back in the 80’s. A great coach, always and forever.

  8. Mr. Norwood,
    All the years I have worked with you, you teaching my son not coaching, watching out for the kids, sir it has been truly an honor. There are not many men that I admire but you are an exception to my rule. You sir are remarkable. You are a friend to the kids first then a coach. You didn’t coach them in football or classes, you coached them into being men. Every time we spoke, it was about the kids. You taught these boy how to be men. I remember at one meeting you talked to them about the Diamond R on their helmets. It’s about respect. Respect for yourself, team mates, coaches, teachers, you parents, others and your school. There are hardly any coaches that do that. It was always about the kids. The way you taught those kids won many parents over to supporting your teams win or loss. It was about the kids. Sir, I truly admire you for whom you are and will never forget the impact you had on Ragsdale and these young men. You helped raise a lot of young men that came through there. For many you were a father figure and to others, you were the direction that they needed in life. You will so truly be missed and I hope everything goes well for you lovely family. You guys will always be family. I can understand your decision for family and you. May God Bless you and yours, it truly has been an honor through all these years to know you and see you teach these kids to be men.
    Ron T Kiser

  9. I saw Coach Norwood’s teams when I lived in Jamestown back around 2000-2015.

    He is a great coach and a better person.

    We wish him well.

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