Garner hires successful SSS coach Deron Donald to lead football program
The storied Garner Trojans football team has a new head coach. Smithfield-Selma High School head coach Deron Donald will take over the program after an extensive search by Garner principal Matthew Price and athletic director Charles Harris.
Donald met with his new Garner players for the first time on Thursday. He will officially start in the new role on January 30th.
"I'm blessed for this opportunity to be a part of a such a storied program," Donald told HighSchoolOT. "When you have a job like that come available, who wouldn't want to be in a position to be a leader in a program like this?"
Donald told the student-athletes in his opening remarks that the Trojans' program will be player-focused and not system-focused.
"These are young people, this is who we're serving, so it's about them," Donald said. "It's not about me. I always tell my coaches that we don't have egos. If you're title-driven and all of that, you probably won't be on my staff and around me long. It's about 'how can we find what these young people do well? How can we find a way to get them to reach their fullest potential?'"
Longtime Garner leader Thurman Leach announced his retirement with HighSchoolOT in November.
Smithfield-Selma hired Donald to take over its program in January of 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic escalated. Donald coached SSS to a 2-5 record in the 2020-2021 season, which was played in the spring after a delay.
In the 2021 season, the Spartans broke out with an 8-4 season and made the second round of the 3A state playoffs. It was the first time SSS produced a winning record since 2008 and the first time the Spartans won a playoff game since 2007. In the 2010s, the Spartans won one or less game nine times.
Last year, Donald’s Spartans jumped out to a perfect 8-0 record and ultimately finished the season 9-2. They fell to Hunt in the first round of the state playoffs by a score of 3-0.
An overall record of 19-11 (.633) is one of the best marks in terms of winning percentage in Smithfield-Selma's history.
Donald was the coach of E.E. Smith High School’s football program from 2016-2019. Donald helped the Golden Bulls reach the state playoffs twice. In the 2017 season, Donald’s Golden Bulls finished 9-4 overall and advanced to the second round.
Donald played football at Fayetteville State University. He graduated with his Bachelor's degree in May 2005 and a Master’s in Special Education in 2010.
Garner has a rich history of football. The Trojans are one of the few Wake County teams to ever win a state championship. Since the Trojans’ 1987 state title, Garner won over 20 conference championships, finished as the 4A state runner-up in 1998, and also finished as the 4AA runner-up in 2011.
Being able to take part in this decision meant a lot to Harris, a class of 2000 Garner graduate.
"It's assuring to know you're putting a program that you care so much about into capable hands," Harris told HighSchoolOT in an interview. "These decisions that are being made are twice as important to me because this is home, it's impacting home."
