New Bern High School Football Staff Member of the Week: Coach McCormick

A memorable Bears football season ended just two weeks ago with a tough loss to the eventual state finalist Cardinal Gibbons. New Bern football now heads to the offseason with the goal of getting “bigger, faster, stronger” according to NBHS Defensive Coordinator Terrance McCormick.

Coach McCormick just finished his first season as a New Bern Bear. Like so many New Bern coaches, Coach McCormick has been around football his whole life. McCormick is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, where he was an All American. McCormick even has professional experience, playing DB for four years in Atlanta for the Arena League Georgia Force.

Coach McCormick had this to say about his journey through football, “I love the game man. I think it is the greatest sport in the world, to be honest with you. From being a little guy in pee-wee, from my college years to my professional years, and high school. High school is basically the greatest, there is nothing like playing under the lights on Friday night. My journey has been excellent, and I hope to have many more journeys with football.”

After hanging up his Georgia Force helmet, Coach McCormick decided to give back to the game that has given him so much. He would become a coach. McCormick told me this about his first experience as a coach, “It’s been a great learning experience. When I was at Warren County High School, I started off as a defensive backs coach, then the following year the coach left, and the new head coach made me a defensive coordinator. He stayed there for three years, then all of a sudden he had to leave. They brought me in as the interim head coach and then I ended up being the head coach there for a couple of years.”

Being a head coach, some may wonder why Coach McCormick joined New Bern as the defensive coordinator. According to McCormick, his previous relationship with Coach Nowell influenced his decision. “Coach Nowell, he called me at a basketball game and said: “Hey man I need you.” So I’m here. . . Coach Nowell brought me here, he asked me if I would come and run his defense. He and I have some history together, he coached at Southern Vance while I was at Warren County. Our coaching paths are fairly similar.”

Coach McCormick said this about his experience at Warren County HS, “Two-way school at the time, it was a learning experience. I wanted to coach football when I finished playing arena football but I decided, I just wasn’t qualified enough at the time. When I got my shot at Warren County, I had a fairly good coach that was in front of me who showed me the ropes. So when I got the opportunity to become the head coach it basically taught me to be a better person for one, because I got to learn the ways of the kids and be a bigger mentor to them. Also, it taught me how to grind, how to be more organized, how to spread my thoughts and my tenacity to all the other kids. So you know how to get them to go out and kick butt every Friday night. It was a great learning experience, it was a starting point for me. So now I am looking onto bigger and better things.”

Coach McCormick was an important reason why the Bears had a bigger and better season in 2019.  The stifling defense was key to our 10-3 season. Coach McCormick loves the defensive side of the football. He said this about being a defensive coordinator, “It’s still the same to me. Coach Nowell gives me the freedom to do what I need to do to put my input and my thoughts into what the team should do to. He really welcomes input from the coaches, so I mean it is nothing different. It really takes a lot of stress off my shoulders to honest with you from being a head coach you have other things you have to worry about. As opposed to being apart of the team, working with the community and stuff, and fundraising. It really took a lot off my plate as opposed to being really different from being the head coach.”

Sports come with expectations and they always have. The great teams don’t let expectations phase them. Great teams rise above them and often surpass them. That can be said about the expectations for 2019. I asked Coach McCormick about those expectations. “When I got here Coach Nowell and I talk about what he wanted. How he wanted the team to look, the structure, everything. Basically, he wanted me to help him to get the team the way he wanted it to be. My thoughts on the season, it was a great season. The expectations were that we were going to win five or six games. Back to .500 ball basically. Just to get the kids thinking that they are winners. But we went far beyond that, 10-3 is not what we expected. But we started thinking we were really good after we played the Havelock game. We started to see the identity and the mentality of the kids, so we felt like we were a good team but we didn’t say it to the kids.”

Although everyone is disappointed in the way the season ended, the coaches must look forward. Coach McCormick is already doing that. “We are going to grind. I coach outdoor track, which is apart of the grind. Getting those boys out there running, conditioning. Bigger, faster, stronger is the goal. If we can accomplish that this summer then I definitely guarantee a championship.”

With all the history and tradition of football at New Bern High School, a state championship should always be the goal. It definitely is for Coach McCormick. In talking about the 2020 season, he said  “Got big plans. Big plans. The main goal is the State Championship. As a head coach, I was fortunate to go to the second round but I never got past the second round. This year I accomplished one of my goals, we made it to the third round. So now my goal is ultimately to win a state championship as a coach. As a player, I won a state championship at Wallace Rose Hill. So now as a coach, I would love to win a state championship.” 

The road to next season for the Bears has begun, as they will now transition into the offseason. Go Bears!

Congratulations to our Newest New Bern High School Football Staff Member of the Week Coach McCormick!