Midlands coach, SC Hall of Famer to retire after 2021 football season
Phil Strickland will be calling it quits after the upcoming high school football season.
The Newberry High School coach and longtime fixture in South Carolina told The State on Friday that he plans to retire following the season. Strickland was part of a preseason media event for the Aun and McKay Football Jamboree at Timberlake Golf Course in Chapin.
“Last year I was going to call it quits but I never really announced it,” Strickland said. “But we really didn’t have (with COVID) a season last year. It didn’t feel like football season. And my wife said, ‘You can’t go out like that.’ So this year is going to be my last season. Forty years in education, it is time to turn it over to let some of the young guys have it.”
This season will be Strickland’s 40th as a coach, the last 34 as head coach. The former Airport High School standout has had stops at Ridge Spring Monetta, Brookland-Cayce, Gaffney, Batesburg-Leesville and Newberry High where he has been since 2010.
Strickland has won 334 games during his career, numerous region titles and has never missed the postseason as head coach. He won his 300th back in 2016 against Keenan, 47-14. At the time, he was just the sixth S.C. coach to achieve the 300-win plateau.
Strickland won state championships with Batesburg-Leesville (1995, 1999) and Gaffney (2003, 2005, 2006). He took Newberry to back-to-back state championship appearances, and his teams also were runners-up on three different occasions.
Strickland was voted into the S.C. Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017 and is a member of three other halls of fame. He also has coached five future NFL players during his career.
“I still have a lot of passion for what I do, enjoy being around young kids and watching them grow, become good football players and citizens,” Strickland said. “But this is going to be it.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 4:23 PM.
