NC high school football coach, one of state’s best, wondered if he’d ever get a chance
For a very long time, Northern Nash High School’s Andrew Farriss wondered if he would ever get the chance to be head football coach.
Farriss, 46, is the Observer’s Deer Park N.C. High School Football Coach of the Week, but it took a while to get here.
Farriss appeared to take all the right steps. He played in high school at Wilson Christian Academy. He played in college at what is now Methodist University, and then he started a series of assistant coaching jobs, including landing at Wilson’s Hunt High School in Fall 2003.
He spent 13 years there, was part of a team that won four consecutive conference championships, and made four N.C. 3A Eastern Regional championship appearances in a row.
But every time he applied for a head job, he always got the letter basically saying, “Thanks for applying.”
“I interviewed and applied for four different jobs when I was at Hunt,” Farriss said. “It was disappointing to not get some of them, and there were a few that I thought I would be a great fit for. Looking back on it, it worked out for the best, but I did wonder if it would happen. I was happy at Hunt as an assistant.”
Things changed when the head coaching job at Hunt job came open and Farriss applied along with another longtime assistant, Keith Byrum. Byrum got the job, and Farriss felt it was time to leave.
“It hurt to not get that job, having been there as long as I had been,” Farriss said, “but my buddy Keith Byrum had been there, too, and put in his time.”
So Farris ended up at Fike High School, again in Wilson, in another assistant position. Farris spent the 2016-17 season there, and then he decided to make the biggest move of his career.
He joined the staff at Northern Nash, working under Randy Raper. The two had worked together at Hunt, and Farriss knew Raper was nearing retirement.
He thought this would be his best chance to finally get the big whistle.
“I wanted to get in line for the (head) job,” Farriss said.
This time, it worked out.
Raper retired in December 2017 and Farriss was hired a few weeks later, taking over a team that had posted seven straight losing seasons. The 2017 team finished 1-10.
“I knew it would be an uphill climb,” Farriss said. “I thought the potential was there and...I think I hit it at the right time. We got some good, talented players, and some still are here now.”
Farriss’ first team, in 2018, finished 3-8. His second changed the culture, going 8-5 and reaching the second round of the playoffs. From there, Northern Nash has developed into a bona fide state power.
In the 2021 and ‘22 seasons, Northern Nash was a combined 26-3. The ‘22 team played East Lincoln in the 3A state championship game.
“I look at the 2019 team as the one that turned the page and got us over the hump,” said Farriss, who has been married to his wife Joanna for 16 years. “I give that team the credit for changing the mindset here and knowing winning is possible and knowing success is possible.”
This year’s team is 4-0 with wins over tough competition like Hunt and Greenville’s JH Rose. Farriss thinks his team could make another state title run.
“I did not know where we would be at this point,” he said. “We had two new teams on the non-conference schedule (Rose and Hunt) and I knew they would be tough, but I’m pleased with how we’ve played so far. I feel we have the ability to make a run. The talent is there. It’s just a matter of us becoming a team and developing team leadership. That’s the thing we had last year and this year’s group needs to develop. But we have the pieces to do it, we just have to put them in the right place to do it again.”
2023 coach of the week honorees
Week 1: Kennedy Tinsley, Mallard Creek
Week 2: Ben Kolstad, Leesville Road
Week 3: Brandon Gentry, Hopewell
