Derrick Sewell is back at home at Gaston and ready to take them back to where he knows they can be

GASTON − Derrick Sewell has returned to his first teaching/coaching job, after a long road back to what he now calls his dream job.

Sewell started his career at Gaston High School , climbing to head baseball coach, where he hired now baseball coach and one of his top football assistants Jesse Pruitt. While the ending of his first stint at Gaston wasn't ideal, it never changed the fact that he would have wanted to return one day, after never wanting to leave in the first place.

"I probably would have never left, it was my first teaching job and on the last day of my third year they decided that they didn't need me anymore, which was fine. I never really said, look I have a desire to leave. I knew I always wanted to be a head football coach, but at the time my plan was to stay here with (former) coach (Swane) Morris, learn, move on up the rank and when he decided he was done maybe be the head coach," Sewell said.

Sewell admits this round of the opening of the Bulldog top job wasn't the first time he thought about coming back, as there have been discussion since the COVID-19 pandemic. But they weren't the right time. Sewell moved from Ragland to take the head coach job at West End in 2021 and the Gaston job wasn't open then.

This time around, Sewell wasn't searching to leave West End, but with the Gaston job opening it suddenly became the right time for him to make the move and come back to a place that feels like home.

"It wasn't the right time until it was the right time. I think it was a God thing for me, I prayed about it. I felt this was a place that I got my start, so that's why it feels like home to me," Sewell said.

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The Building Blocks are already there for Bulldogs

Due to the job by former coaches Matt Harris and Alan Beckett, there is already a strong base for Sewell to try and get the players to the next level. Sewell credits them for helping get the players to a spot mentally that they are strong enough to understand most of what he has installed, though it helps there are similarities between Sewell's and Harris systems.

Sewell has been tasked with getting the Bulldog program back to the playoffs. When he was at Gaston from 2011-14 they made two playoff appearances and then getting Ragland and West End back into the playoffs as a head coach. Sewell knows what it takes to get teams into the playoffs and feels the baseline is already there for the Bulldogs, especially with a group hungry to continue a turnaround.

"Ground work is here, there is an excitement because there is a group of kids that say we're tired of losing. These seniors that have been here the whole time have been playing since they were in the seventh and eighth grade. They're tired of getting whipped up on," Sewell said.

Over the Harris and Beckett tenures, there have been improvements to the program on and off the field: the numbers have slowly risen with more kids coming out. This year, the Bulldogs have 13 seniors and 35 total players on varsity. The record improved under Harris before slipping in 2023, but there was still fight throughout the year.

Off the field, a locker room renovation has sparked energy.

Those improvements over the last three seasons have created a legacy for the seniors, but they hope to add to it this season. They don't have a win total, or playoffs in mind, but just want the work they have done to be their legacy.

"I know were losing a lot of people after we leave, I hope we set a good platform for the younger kids to learn and be able to give it their all," Keller Skaggs said.

While the seniors don't need to make it to the playoffs for their legacy, the fact that they have a chance to get there speaks towards their legacy. There is still the goal for the playoffs, and they believe they can make it there.

"If we have our eyes on the goal, then we have a chance" Kodie Bogle said.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Derrick Sewell is back at home at Gaston and ready to take them back to where he knows they can be