Fred T. Foard High head football coach Derrick Minor has been selected by Coaches and A.D. magazine for a national award for those in sports under the age of 40./OBSERVER NEWS ENTERPRISE PHOTO
HobbsDailyReport.com
NEWTON – Derrick Minor — who guided Fred T. Foard High to its first state football playoff victory since 1982 last season — will be honored on Monday night as one of the Top 40 under the age of 40 by a national publication.
Minor will be honored by Coaches and A.D. magazine as part of the summer convention of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) in Sioux Falls, S.D.
He and other winners will be recognized in the July/August issue of the magazine.
This is first year of the national awards that has winners chosen after they are nominated. The criteria is under the age of 40 as on March 15 of this year, currently employed within the sports industry, demonstrates leadership qualities and strives to propel the industry forward through involvement and innovation.
Minor has instituted a number of community-involvement programs for his program that focus on building a connection between Tigers football, the Foard community and with the elementary and middle schools whose students eventually attend Foard.
He came to Fred T. Foard two seasons ago, replacing Tom Harper after his three seasons. The Tigers were 3-8 in Minor’s first season, including 1-6 in the Northwestern 3A-4A to finish in eighth place.
Last season, the Tigers finished 9-4 after a third-place finish in the Northwestern Foothills 2A (4-2). The year ended with a second-round 28-14 loss at Mount Pleasant in the 2AA bracket. The week before, Foard won its first state playoff game since 1982 when it defeated Maiden on the road 16-0.
The 1982 state playoff win came against Southwest Guilford in the West 2A Division II playoff format, so the win at Maiden was the first postseason victory for Foard in a traditional state postseason bracket.
Minor is 12-12 at Foard after two seasons and 44-33 after six seasons as a head coach. He coached one season at Rockingham Ccounty (5-6) and three years at Princeton (26-15) before being hired by Foard in May of 2016.
A Western Alamance graduate, his assistant coaching stints were at Southern Guilford, Southern Alamance and Graham.
Foard begins its 2018 season with a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game, going to Maiden for an Aug. 17 game.