Ashley Ridge High School needs a new head football coach.
Julian (Doc) Davis has announced he will step down as the Swamp Fox football coach. Davis, the only football coach the second-year school has ever had, will retire at the end of this school year.
“I’ve been playing and coaching football for 48 years and just feel like it’s time to give it up,” Davis said. “I love the players and coaches here at Ashley Ridge, but its time for me to retire. I enjoyed coaching and have no regrets. It’s just time to move back to Spartanburg and maybe do some fishing.”
Davis, 58, has coached football for the past 35 years. Prior to coming to Ashley Ridge to build the Swamp Fox program from scratch, he spent 18 years as the head coach for the Spartanburg High School football team. He led the Vikings to five AAAA state championships (91, 94, 95, 96 and 2001) and was named the Associated Press State Coach of the Year in 1996.
At Ashley Ridge, he faced the challenge of starting a football program with only freshmen and sophomores that had to compete at the varsity level. The team only managed six wins in its first two seasons but Davis, a former quarterback for Garner Webb University, was able to implement an explosive offense.
Besides, Davis, who left Spartanburg with a 178-61 record, has never measured success strictly by the scoreboard.
“I thought this team would have done better than it did, but we made some headway over the past two seasons,” Davis said. “The coaching staff was able to establish a work ethic in these kids and I hope we laid the ground work for whoever they hire. For now, I’ll continue running the after-school weight program and working with the quarterbacks and receivers. I’ve told the kids I’ll be the head coach until they find another one.”

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.