On Friday, Thomasville High School athletic director Steve Bare announced that the school’s head football coach Kevin Gillespie is retiring. For the past 33 years, Gillespie has been a mainstay in North Carolina high school football. He spent his final four years at Thomasville.

Gillespie finished his head coaching career with a 172-110 overall record. He was a head coach for 23 years. His time leading a program was divided between Trinity High School, Page High School, Asheboro High School, and finally Thomasville.

Since taking the Thomasville job ahead of the 2020 football season, Gillespie led the Bulldogs to a 32-12 overall record. Thomasville reached the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s state playoffs three times under the experienced coach.

The coach achieved the dream of all high school football coaches while he was at Page. In 2011, Gillespie led Page to a 35-21 victory over Garner in the 4AA state championship game. He led Page back to the 4AA title in 2015 and 2016. Five of Gillespie’s teams at Page won a conference championship.

He was a member of the coaching staff of the 2014 N.C. Coaches Association East-West All-Star Game and the 2017 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. Both of the all-star teams that he coached won.

Thomasville is now searching for its next head coach. The Bulldogs have a storied football program that has won 10 regional championships and seven state championships. Thomasville won state championships in 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008.

Source: highschoolot.com