Gillespie rebuilds Thomasville back into a high school football contender

In the grand scheme of things, coming back to where it all started has worked out just fine for Kevin Gillespie.

The veteran football coach experienced his first losing stint at Asheboro High School from 2017-19, when the Comets won a total of five games.

After being fired, Gillespie wasn't sure what he wanted to do next nor where he might finish his teaching and coaching career.

"I just prayed for God to open a door," Gillespie said. "I didn't think I wanted to rush right back into coaching. But then I heard about the Thomasville job being open and I thought I would at least look into it."

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He looked and they hired - bringing Gillespie back to a spot and program where he started his coaching career in 1991 as an assistant under the legendary Allen Brown. Three seasons into his tenure, and Gillespie has tradition-rich Thomasville football back to where it used to be: Deep into the state playoffs.

The Bulldogs are 11-1 heading into Friday's third-round Class 1-A playoff tilt with Draughn at Cushwa Stadium. The 11 wins are the most since the 2010 season, and advancing this far in the postseason hasn't happened since 2012.

Thomasville captured its first title (in the old Western North Carolina Activities Association) under George Cushwa in 1964. Then came a long reign of Browns as head coach – Allen, his son Benjie, then Allen again. Along with them came seven more state titles were won in football, including that 1991 season with a rookie Gillespie helping.

However, after Allen Brown's last season in 2013, Thomasville hit a slump. Doug Robertson stabilized things in 2018-19 before accepting the head coaching position at Page.

That's when Gillespie was hired.

"Part of me wanted to see if I can come in and make things right again," said Gillespie, a 1988 Trinity graduate. "And Doug had done a good job here of doing things the right way."

Gillespie has had success at the highest level in North Carolina high school football.

Prior to Asheboro, Gillespie guided Page for 10 years, winning a 4-A state title in 2011 and finishing state runner-up in 2015 and 2016. He also turned around his alma mater in the mid-2000s, averaging seven wins over five seasons and leading the 2002 squad to the third round of the postseason, which had never been done before.

In 22 seasons, he has a record of 163-106.

And this year has been somewhat of a surprise.

"We lost our best athlete and our quarterback from last year, CJ Dickerson, to a torn ACL over the summer," Gillespie said. "That really hurt. And we've got only one senior that starts on defense. But we've made it work."

Janhri Luckey, who measures 5-foot-5, 145 pounds, has filled in nicely under center and the Bulldogs have settled into a two-back scheme with Shamon Smith (1,329 yards rushing and 17 TDs) and Kevin Robinson (1,165 and 16 TDs). Junior linebacker Dameyon Gathings leads the defense while safety Jalen Thomas has seven interceptions with three being returned for touchdowns.

The Bulldogs don't have the dominant players of the past like Kerry Mock, Lamont Pegues, Andre Cannon, Quan Warley or EJ Abrams-Ward, all of whom went on to play Division I football.

But they are winning again. Thomasville's only loss this season was to Salisbury, who is still playing in the 2-A playoffs.

"Kevin has done a wonderful job of embracing the culture and community that surrounds Thomasville High School," said athletic director Steve Bare, who also serves as a football assistant. "Our success over the last three seasons is a result of great leadership and vision from our head coach and a very special group of athletes who have accepted the challenge to grow as athletes and individuals."

Gillespie is enjoying the tail end of his career with an open mind.

"There are big shoes to fill being the head coach at Thomasville," he said. "But I don't get caught up in the good or bad of what people think Thomasville football should be. I am going to be me. We've got good kids here and I am just trying to have a positive impact on this school and community."

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: NCHSAA Playoffs: Under Gillespie, Thomasville football again a power