Tom Brown walks away from Maiden football

It is now official: Tom Brown, the dean of Catawba Valley football coaches and self-proclaimed "oldest rat in the barn" has announced his permanent retirement as head coach of the Blue Devils. An article in the Daily Record says that the announcement was prompted by a memo from Catawba County Schools Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley. The memo outlined five stipulations Markley had before giving Brown’s name to the county school board for approval at its next meeting on Tuesday night. Here is what one Blue Devil insider had to say about it on NCPreps:

"Coach Tom Brown has decided not to accept the contract presented to him by the Catawba County School Board. For the last several months the board has gone out of their way to make it impossible to have coach Brown back at Maiden. Each time a set of conditions were set and Coach Brown agreed, the rules were changed. For what ever reason, the board, or some members of the board seem to be using their position for a personal agenda. Maiden HS has been asked to do things none of the other schools have been required to do. It is going to be very interesting if Randy Lowman is back at Bandys since both he and coach Brown retired and asked to be hired back under the same situation. I wonder which school district some of the board members live in? It is a shame that one of the best coaches in the state has been treated this way. The next election can not come quick enough."

Brown, whose career record stands at 352-117-7 in 39 years as a head coach (but only 1-2 vs. Hickory), had been required by school board rules to retire from his official duties and remain so for at least six months before he would be eligible to return as a coach on a volunteer basis. Since that rule was first laid down, there have been changes to the requirements. There had been rumors that there was reluctance on the part of school board officials to allow Brown to return.

Tom Brown


The shakeup in Maiden may also be tied to the building of the new Maiden high school that opened in 2006. Brown was heavily involved in determining the location of the new school, which also required a certain amount of re-districting, primarily forcing kids from the Bandys area to attend Maiden.

Randy Lowman, the retired head coach at Bandys, is in the same exact situation but his status has yet to be determined.