Newton-Conover and East Burke both have new football coaches which have been approved by their respective Boards of Education, according to a number of reports including The Observer-News-Enterprise.
Matt Beam, former head coach at Burns, will take over the Red Devil program at Newton-Conover, while North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame member Tom Brown has been named the new coach at East Burke.
Beam replaces Brint Russell, who resigned in November after two seasons. The Red Devils were 2-9 a year ago after winning a share of the conference championship in 2012. He is only the fourth coach at Newton-Conover in the last 40 years, including another NCHSAA Hall of Famer Don Patrick, who was followed by Nick Bazzle and then Russell.
Beam, who graduated from East Lincoln, has been at Burns the last five years and was at North Lincoln prior to that.
Brown, who spent the bulk of his coaching career at Maiden, will take over at East Burke for Jim Ruark but has not coached since 2007. Brown has a remarkable career coaching mark of 352-117-7, including 35 years at Maiden and four at Bunker Hill.
The 70-year-old Brown, a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne, was among those honored at the recent NCHSAA gala celebrating the Association’s 100th anniversary, as he had been earlier named to the “100 To Remember” list of coaches in NCHSAA history.
