'Nothing but a father figure': Setzer becomes winningest coach in St. Pauls history

Oct. 26—ST. PAULS — When a 27-year-old arena football player from Lenoir first came to be an assistant coach at St. Pauls High School in 2002, it would've been hard to imagine that he would become the school's most successful head coach.

Twenty years later, after Friday's 42-13 win over West Bladen, Mike Setzer stands alone as the winningest coach in Bulldogs history; his 65th victory broke a tie with Yogi Hickman for the most wins in the program.

"It couldn't happen to a better person," said Eric Murphy, who played for Setzer in the early-2000s and has coached alongside him the last nine seasons. "I've been around him since I was 13 years old. He's been my high school coach and a father figure, and my mentor, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving person."

While Hickman was unable to attend Friday's record-setting game, Tommy Townsend — one of Setzer's mentors, who coached alongside Hickman — presented him with an award after the game for his accomplishment.

"It was really special," Setzer said. "I'm really thankful to (St. Pauls Principal Jason) Suggs, because he keeps up with that stuff, so I'm really thankful. It was really classy. And then to have one of my mentors show up, Tommy Townsend, was huge. I thought it was classy.

"I think that the biggest thing is God, and then my family, to be supportive all these years. They've had to make some sacrifices with me being a coach. I've been in their life as much as I need to be."

Setzer, who is 65-37 in two stints as St. Pauls head coach, and 83-86 overall in 15 seasons, has done it by bringing a family approach to the Bulldogs program.

"Every time, every year, it's like his sons that he coached," St. Pauls senior running back Kemarion Baldwin said. "Behind the success he's had, he preaches family, and he's been nothing but a father figure to all of us. He's been that father figure to me that I could never ask for. He'll chew me out on the field, but then he'll tell me he loves me. It's nothing but love; he wants nothing but the best for us."

After returning to St. Pauls as head coach in 2018, the 47-year-old Setzer is now coaching the sons of some of the players he coached during his first stint with the Bulldogs, from 2004-07.

"I've got second-generation football players now," Setzer said. "I've got second-generation students, that I taught their parents, as well. So that's why it's like family. That's why it's a home away from home."

Setzer became an assistant coach for the Bulldogs in 2002 under head coach Tasker Fleming. He came to the area between arena football seasons as he tried to keep his playing career alive, to rehab and be with his then-fiance. He became more serious about coaching and teaching when his playing career ended a short time later.

"It's one of those things that came to me easy," Setzer said. "I recognize it's just a God gift. I was always appreciative of the coaches in my life, what they did for me, so it's a way that I can pass the torch on and have a part in these young men's life, and the female athletes as well that I come across, to hopefully better their lives."

When the St. Pauls head coaching position became available in 2004, many around the program advocated for him to become the head coach — including Murphy, then a running back entering his senior season at the school.

"I was really advocating that he could be the guy that turned it around for us, and we really related to him so much back then," Murphy said. "I used to tell my principal all the time, 'Coach Setzer's the guy, Coach Setzer's the guy.' We needed that tough guy."

Setzer says now he "wasn't ready at all" to be a head coach, but he got the position. He still carries with him the support that other coaches gave him early on, especially around that time as he began his head coaching tenure.

"Coach Townsend, when I first got the job, told me he was not going to let me fail," Setzer said. "Those things like that I remember, I'm so appreciative of. I try to emulate those same type of values and care for other coaches as I bring on young coaching staffs and things like that."

Setzer was 24-26 from 2004-07 with St. Pauls, then took the head coaching job at his alma mater, West Caldwell, for two seasons. He then returned to Robeson County as an assistant coach at Lumberton under Mike Brill, and returned to St. Pauls for two years as an assistant coach under Trey Sasser, who had worked under him as an assistant at St. Pauls a few years earlier.

"When I got back there, it was like family again, understanding my old stomping grounds," Setzer said. "It was tough, I ain't going to lie, because you're going back to a place where you were a head coach. I still learned, and I think it made me a better head coach. I learned patience."

Setzer did become a head coach again at Lumberton in 2014; he was let go by the Pirates and became St. Pauls' head coach again in 2018, 11 years after previously holding the position.

The Bulldogs are 41-11 in Setzer's second stint at the school, including a run to the spring 2021 NCHSAA 2AA state championship game, becoming the first team from Robeson County to play for a state title since Maxton won it in 1975.

"When we came back in '18 ... we hit the ground running," Murphy said. "I think it's because of the way he relates to the kids, we all relate to the kids, and the standards we hold these kids to, they've bought in to and they don't want to go back down. It's just the St. Pauls way now — I always call it the Setzer way, but he doesn't like when I say that."

A big part of the reason Setzer's current coaching stint has been the most successful of his four stops, he says, is the resources which are now available and both the quality and quantity of the coaches working with him.

"I'm spoiled now, and what I mean is, you try to stay faithful, and I always tell young coaches how hard it was; we didn't have the resources," Setzer said. "When I first started it was basically about three of us getting varsity and JV together, and you look now, we've got 11 coaches. ... Sometimes at practice I look across and see all the coaches, I've got a smile inside, because I didn't give up and I know it's the good Lord that supplied us with that. I think that's another reason why we're doing so well."

The family atmosphere in the Bulldogs program has become literal at times, as Setzer has coached all three of his sons at St. Pauls. His oldest, Kane Banner, played for him at West Caldwell, Lumberton and St. Pauls, and his middle son, Sayvon Sampson, also played for his father at St. Pauls; both went on to play collegiately at Duke. Setzer currently coaches his youngest son, sophomore quarterback Theophilus Setzer.

"I've always been a football person, my brothers played football, my dad played football, football's just always been a big thing," Theophilus Setzer said. "I enjoy playing, so him being my coach has just brought us closer."

Coaching his own children has been a rewarding challenge for Setzer, who said he tried so hard to be fair with his oldest son that he ended up overcompensating and treating him unfairly on the football field.

"I had a coach tell me there's only two ways somebody's not going to talk about your kid being on the team: either your kid's got to be the best on the team, or he's got to be the worst," Mike Setzer said. "I haven't had a kid like that, so there's always going to be naysayers. As I've gotten older, I think I've gotten better with each one."

That fairness and lack of favoritism extends throughout the entire program, his players say.

"He holds them at a standard, and he's not going to drop the standard for any kid, it doesn't matter why it's (Kemarion Baldwin) or a kid that's lower on the totem pole," Murphy said. "I think that's why the kids respect him so much, because he doesn't show any type of favoritism, it's just straight across the board."

After spending much of his adult life as a head coach, Setzer has earned this and other coaching records. But he says he's done it by maintaining the mentality that impacting his players is the top priority.

"If I could give any young coaches advice: it's OK to chase records, but don't ever lose what's in sight — as long as you're changing lives, the wins and losses, they'll come," Mike Setzer said. "Chasing records should be a good goal for you, but if you lose sight and put records over changing young man's lives, or athletes' lives, it's the wrong thing and it won't come."

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.