Staff report

FARMINGTON — Davie officially announced on Wednesday that Brian Hinson will be the new head football coach, replacing Tim Devericks.

Hinson was a Hall of Fame offensive lineman at Catawba College after coming to Salisbury from East Montgomery High.

Hinson had a number of coaching stops in Rowan County, as an assistant at North Rowan right out of college and as a head coach at East Rowan and Salisbury.

He inspired surprising success at East, a tough place to win. The Mustangs had two winning seasons during his three-year run as head coach (2007-09).

In a five-year run at Salisbury High (2017-21), Hinson’s teams were 40-15 and put together an 18-game winning streak with athletes such as Jalon Walker and Vance Honeycutt. Hinson guided the Hornets to a state runner-up finish in 2019, and then a state title in the delayed 2020 COVID season that was played in the spring of 2021.

Besides high school coaching, Hinson had substantial tenures as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina, where he earned a master’s degree, and at Catawba. He left the Catawba coaching staff to take the job at Salisbury.

Hinson stepped down as head coach at Salisbury to serve as AD, but he found he enjoyed coaching much more than being an AD.

When he got the itch to coach again, he quickly found a new home at West Cabarrus, a struggling program in Concord. In his second season there in 2024 he led the Wolverines to five wins and their first state playoff berth.

As it turned out, that second year was his last year at WC. Now he heads to Davie to coach the War Eagles.

Hinson’s high school career record is 70-49.  He’s always been regarded not only as a winner who can motivate athletes, but also as a solid, caring human being. He will teach P.E. in addition to his coaching duties.

Devericks remains in place as the AD.

With realignment to eight NCHSAA classifications coming in the fall, Davie will be a 7A program and will be in a league that will look a lot like the traditional 4A Central Piedmont Conference.

Davie has never won a state championship, but has good athletes and great fan support and has been close to going all the way. The War Eagles reached the 4A title game in 2010 and made a regional final in 2004.