#keepcoachmetzger

Please keep Coach Metzger.

This would be a huge loss to our school system!

He has turned around a high school culture for a huge amount of kids. This may be long-winded, but here you are. My son was on the football team that played under Larry Adams. They were the laughingstock of NC 4AA football. Losing games by 50+ points regulary. At one point the team was down to 20 players on varsity and they voted on whether even to continue to have a football team due to safety for the players. The players voted to continue on. Adams was fired after the season and Coach Metzger was hired. He initiated a program "breakfast for champions". He opened up the weightroom at 6am, organized buses to pick kids up who were otherwise unable to make it in neighborhoods from Southern Pines to West End. It was open to all students, whether on football or any other sport. It picked up steam. The culture changed. Players who were too embarrassed to participate in sports were now coming. The team built strength and character and it was bubbling over everywhere. Coach Hewitt and Coach Metzger became allies instead of the previous not too cozy relationship between football and baseball. In addition to this culture change, he had his players volunteering in the community with community projects. It started paying dividends. The team rallied, the school spirit rallied and the laughingstock of NC 4AA started to win games. People started coming to games. Players who otherwise may not have continued to college were now continuing on to play college football at all levels. My son went on to play at Wake Forest. This coach has had a major impact on 100's of high school student athletes. He teaches respect and discipline far too lacking in today's society. The school student body and the community in general has benefited in myriad ways. He has also worked with Tom Van Camp in developing our youth football program so it is a coordinated effort from pop warner football through high school. We now have one of the best football programs in the state. Coach does this without fanf

I played for 3 years under coach Metzger, and 1 year under his predecessor, after I moved from Germany due to my parents military service. When I arrived in 2005, no one wanted to be associated with the football team, not students, parents or the community at large. The reputation and nickname of Pinecrest was "Crimecrest." Coach Metzger's arrival and efforts marked a dramatic positive shift in the culture of the entire school. The football team now represented strength, respect, hope, self-discipline and service; having been a kid raised on military bases around the world, I could be proud of what we stood for. Coach Metzger turned would-be underachievers, due to circumstance, into athletes, college students, and most importantly good men. The team was now a home away from home, where success was attainable with hard work, where previously this wasn't the case. Many of my teammates needed a safe home to escape to and the team coach built was their refuge. I went on to play football at ECU, and I can attest to how impressive and reflective of a D1 program he has built at Pinecrest. Coach has built a program that not only prepares young men to be successful on the field, which he has helped us achieve, but successful in our lives beyond the game. I'm now finishing up my Master of Healthcare Administration degree at the University of Washington (Seattle). I can say that the lessons I learned from Coach Metzger have played a significant role in setting the foundation for me to be successful in my personal and professional life. Changing a culture takes a significant amount of time and leadership. Removing Coach Metzger would damage and negate the the tremendous positive strides our students and community have taken since his arrival.

Firing Coach Metzger shouldn't even be a consideration! The greater good that he serves by developing "whole" men (and not just football players) greatly serves the community as a whole! They is level of pettiness, by any Superintendent, without consideration of Coach Metzger's contribution to the whole community, is reprehensible! This is the second time in just a few months that the Superintendent has been embroiled in a controversy...maybe they should evaluate his "fitness" for his position!

Great guy as well as a leader in the community....

Keep coach Metzger

Coach Metzger took the team and gave them hope. My brother played my cousins played and on and on. Metzger was not my coach for my sport however he was a coach all athletes could go to for much needed inspiration and has shown a light for many young men and women.

He has his faults that he needs to work out, but to go to this extent is overkill! As a team, school, and community the biggest lesson that needs to be learned by all is forgiveness

My family has lived in Moore County for nine years. During that time I have been to one Pinecrest High School football game. My interest in Metzger has nothing to do with football. I'm a member of the Kiwanis Club of the Sandhills. Coach Metzger spoke to our group a few months back, and while I was impressed with his dynamic speaking ability, I was far more impressed with the values he espoused. Metzger talked about integrity, dedication, hard work, and loyalty. I left that meeting feeling excited for the boys who would have the chance to learn from a man who clearly wanted to instill those same values in the players he coached. Coaches have a unique opportunity to mold the lives of the children with whom they work, but many fail to take advantage of the opportunity to teach more than the X's and O's of their sport. In a world where fewer and fewer role models exist, I believe it's important to listen to Metzger's players and assess the impact he has had on their lives outside of football. Education encompasses much more than math, science, and English. It's about imparting the skills our children will need to be successful in life, and I believe Coach Metzger is doing that every day.

May God bless Coach Metzger and the impact he is having on all the students at Pinecrest High School.

I consider Chris Metzger a part of my family. A brother who has assisted me in raising my son Sam with his best interests in mind well beyond the scope of a game called football. It is my belief he loves my son as much as I do and cares greatly for his future away from the sport of football. Consider this when you siphon through the sheer numbers of student athletes he certainly feels the same way about. He is a father on and off the field that demands excellence in all categories of life. Chris Metzger's character is not on trial here- a clerical error was made that multiple parties were responsible for is. A high price has already been paid by the coaching staff, the players and their families, fans, and the entire community. Please don't lose sight of the vision that Chris Metzger has managed to capture and command for nearly a decade. This is not all about victories gained on a football field- it is about the building of winners in life...because life isn't easy. Chris is a humble servant who juggles many things in his life including a big family of his own, and is still somehow able to remain on fire and committed to each and every cause he undertakes. If you decide to terminate his services, you will be hard pressed to find another man like him. For this reason and many more, I ask that you keep him.

The coach is a very important part of the Pinecrest educational community. Too many children have been positively affected by him. He is a very special man. I am looking for to seeing him on the sidelines next year as the coach of the Pinecrest Patriots.

Keep coach metzger

Awesome coach!!!

#keepmetzger

We need more teachers like him he's not just a coach for football but a coach in changing life's making a big difference.

When he was the head track coach he never attended an away meet or any or our invitationals. He took the stipend and was paid and didn't actively participate as a head coach. This is NOT the action of a man of honor.

Coach Metzger is an outstanding example of a person. He has turned our football program around and works to be an example of leadership for the young men in this program. Keep Coach Metzger!!

Only answer is to keep Chris a Metzger on as head coach.