STEWART WILL LEAD PROGRAM
Ex-Woodside aide has numerous ties already to Patriots
NEWPORT NEWS — In picking James Stewart as its new head football coach, Denbigh High administration is going with someone who has been a friend and foe.
On one hand, Stewart, 55, is already a part of the Denbigh family. He is in his second year as a special-education teacher at the school and is an assistant track coach there.
On the other, he has been an assistant football coach for 14 seasons at nearby Woodside, Denbigh’s biggest rival, a school created in 1996 from Denbigh neighborhoods. That latter association means he knows how to win, something Woodside does often and that Denbigh has done not at all in its past 23 games.
Woodside has posted winning records in 11 of the past 13 seasons, a period during which Denbigh — winless the past two seasons — has been above .500 just twice. The other three Newport News high schools have combined for only 11 winning seasons in that span.
Stewart played college football at South Carolina State before long-jumping professionally on the international level in meets that included standouts like Carl Lewis. During his time as an assistant at Woodside, Stewart coached the running backs, receivers, defensive backs, linebackers and the junior varsity.
He said 14 seasons with Dodson and longtime Woodside assistants Jerome Rhodes and Darryl Freeman have prepared him for the Denbigh challenge.
“I learned to love the Wing-T while at Woodside,” Stewart said, noting that he will employ that run-oriented offense with Denbigh. “I thought I knew a lot, but when you get that many people together trading ideas, I learned a lot about football.
“I also learned a lot about life lessons that those kids can carry with them the rest of their lives.
The highlight was getting to see my sons (Jimmy Stewart and Justin Stewart) play together (in 2008) for Woodside.
“I loved every minute and told (Dodson) the only way I’d leave Woodside is to become a head coach at Denbigh.”
Stewart says he plans to build the football program the same way he’s helped increase numbers in track the past two years, by walking the halls and encouraging athletes to join the team. He said only eight athletes were on the indoor track team a year ago, and that none qualified for the state meet, but that the team finished with more than 30 this year and three went to states.
“I think just getting the kids excited about being in the program has more to do with it,” he said. “If you make the kids feel good about themselves, they’ll want to be out there.”
Stewart said more than 30 are signed up so far for football conditioning, which starts Monday, better numbers than in recent years. On days when they are not focusing on weight-lifting or on offense and defense, he plans to run them with the Patriots’ track athletes to increase their speed.
Stewart said current Patriots assistants Brian Potts and Allen Simon will remain on the staff. Former Woodside assistant Rod Hunter and his son Justin will join him at Denbigh.
“I believe the kids at Denbigh are a lot better than their record, but it’s our job to get that out of them,” Stewart said.
Denbigh athletic director Bryan Weaver, who conducted the coaching search following the resignation of 11-year coach Marcellus Harris III, says Stewart brings many positives: motivational ability, familiarity with the middle school feeder programs and with Denbigh students, an understanding of the Denbigh-Woodside rivalry and his longtime community involvement.
“I see him as a builder,” Weaver said. “He has a plan for building us and is willing to take on that challenge.
“He has a true passion for making young people improve and grow. It would be unfair to say he has to come in and win four or five games right off of the bat, but we believe he can make us more competitive on a daily and weekly basis.
“He’s a good man. We had a good man (Harris) and we’re replacing him with a good man.”
Dodson said, “I think he’ll do a really good job. He’s been very loyal to us at Woodside for 14 years, starting out as a volunteer coach and progressing.
“He has a really good relationship with the kids and has been a big part of our success at Woodside.”