After winning first state championship, Cox boys soccer coach Eric Blackmore steps down
After 21 years of coaching, Eric Blackmore kissed his first state championship trophy this season and immediately handed it to his eager players.
Now he’s handing off his coaching reins.
Blackmore, 47, is stepping down as Cox boys soccer coach to pursue a career in administration. He won 109 games in 10 years with the Falcons and compiled 232 total wins, including a four-year stint at Landstown and seven-year stay at Hickory.
“I’m just lucky,” Blackmore said. “I had a good group of players and two assistant coaches that took good care of me. It didn’t have to end with a state title for me to be proud of the guys. That was just sugar on everything.”
Blackmore, who also is the health and physical education department chair at Cox, served as the assistant student activities coordinator and hopes to become an athletic director.
“If this was something I needed to pursue career-wise then now was the time to secede from soccer and move into a student activities driven role,” Blackmore said.
He kept the news from the team until the season’s conclusion, never knowing which game would be his last.
“It was hard not to tell the guys,” Blackmore said. “It was hard not to let them know but I didn’t want it to be about me. Ever.”
Blackmore’s soccer career was bookended by state finals albeit with different results. He played outside back and outside midfield at Salem when the SunDevils reached the 1993 Class AAA final - a 3-1 loss to C.D. Hylton.
He played club soccer at Auburn and eventually returned to Virginia Beach, coaching at Beach FC until he became Landstown’s first coach when the school opened in 2001. Finally knocking off coach Kevin Denson’s Kempsville squad in the fourth year was a highlight.
Blackmore helped Hickory reach the state tournament before an opportunity at Cox opened. The Falcons had won back-to-back state titles two years prior.
“The tradition and mystique is real,” Blackmore said. “It’s not just the soccer team; it’s the athletic department.”
As the years passed, Blackmore felt his coaching shell soften.
“When I got to Cox, four years in I learned to enjoy it,” Blackmore said. “We’re so hell-bent on trying to win games and how people saw your teams. Five years ago I started to have a lot of fun with the guys because the teams always change and I think as a person I learned to loosen up a bit. I thought that brought out the best in our teams.”
Never more than this season when the Falcons got hot at the perfect time to win the Class 5 state championship over Riverside.
And a chance for Blackmore to give a long awaited kiss goodbye.
Ray Nimmo, ray.nimmo@pilotonline.com
