BEAR CREEK — When Chatham Central High athletic director Tommy Peele offered Derrin Little the job of head football coach last month, he wanted to make sure one thing was clear.
“You have a baby,” Peele said. “You can nurture it and grow it the way you want to.”
The prospect of raising a “baby” might have scared some people. But this was all part of the appeal for Little. Central isn’t a new program, but it is in need of a fresh start. The Bears haven’t finished a season above .500 this millennium, and they went 12-59 over seven seasons with previous head coach Sherman Howze.
Now that he’s accepted the position, Little is ready to put in the work to change the culture, even if the Bears might have to crawl before they can walk.
"I think that's the biggest thing I can emphasize with the kids, is focusing on the now,” Little said. “I told them, I wasn't even born the last time Chatham Central had at least a .500 season. We're not going to be focused on anything that happened back then, because none of us can control it. We're going to focus on the day-by-day and will build this thing as the day goes on."
Little’s parents have lived in Chatham County for a while, though he grew up in Cumberland County and attended Gray’s Creek High School, where he graduated in 2015 before continuing to play at Greensboro College.
While playing at Greensboro College, Little started his coaching experience as a volunteer with the Northern Guilford football team. After he graduated, his head coach kept him around on staff to help out with recruiting and coaching quarterbacks.
Little stayed in Greensboro until after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2021 spring season, he joined Carver High in Winston-Salem. He then served as an assistant at Jireh Prep for a year before joining Person High as an offensive assistant last fall.
Returning closer to home was one of the many appeals of the Bears’ head coaching position. Little’s mom and several of his aunts attended Central. He also applied for the same Northwood job a few years ago.
"It was honestly pretty tough to leave where I was and what we were doing there building up that program,” Little said. “But I couldn't turn down the opportunity to come back home."
A former quarterback/receiver, Little said he wants to run a no-huddle offense with a base formation similar to Coastal Carolina’s — full of pistol and option looks. The Bears will be a run-first team, but they will also blend in passing looks.
Little said Central’s passing plays will be run out of an air raid scheme, which features four or more receivers on the field at once. At the end of the day, the plan is to wear out the other team.
“We move fast but we want to be able to operate kind of slowly,” he said. “I don't necessarily like to huddle. I feel like if we can keep the same group of 11 defenders on the field, we should be able to tire them out and spread the field side to side as well as gash them right up the middle.”
Little will have a few offensive weapons at his disposal in 2023. The Bears’ leading returning player on that side of the ball is rising senior Devonte Johnson, who ran for 465 yards and six touchdowns while catching 12 passes for 220 yards and another score last fall. The team also brings back rising senior River Warren, who ran for 396 yards from the quarterback position in 2022.
Last fall, Central was the only Chatham County team to make the state playoffs, but it did so after going 2-9 during the regular season. The Bears eventually lost to Rosewood, 44-6, in the first round of the 1A tournament.
Chatham Central started practice Monday and will play its first game of 2023 on Aug. 18 on the road at North Stokes. Little said the plan is to improve every week, though the results might not always show up on the scoreboard.
While it could take a while, Little is excited to watch as his team starts to take those baby steps.
“We're focusing on our every day details, and if we can do that, the wins will come down the line,” he said. “But I'm also in a community that knows the past and the history of the program. They know how it has been. They're not going to overlook the small victories, either."