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Boyce Deitz steps down as Mustang football coach

By Carey Phillips
SMHS 9-time state champion football coach Boyce Deitz - Herald Photo by Mark Haskett

For the first time in 30 years, nine-time state champion Boyce Deitz won't be roaming the sidelines on Friday nights next fall. A head football coach for 23 years, including the last three at Smoky Mountain, Deitz announced Monday he will retire.

A North Carolina high school football coaching legend has decided to retire.

Boyce Deitz, head coach at Smoky Mountain High for the past three seasons, made his announcement Monday. His .752 winning percentage, achieved with a 218-72-2 overall record, ranks as the best in Western North Carolina among active coaches.

A former Sylva-Webster High standout as a player, Deitz coached 20 years at Swain before returning home and taking over at Smoky Mountain prior to the 1997 season.
He won five state championships with the Maroon Devils and has been involved with nine state championship teams as a head coach, assistant coach and player.

Although only 50, Deitz will have 30 years (counting leave time) in education at the end of this school year. He will continue working with the New Century Scholars program until that time.

"I've seen so many coaches that just coached and coached and coached until I felt they were past their prime," Deitz said. "I always said I wouldn't do that. It's something I've planned on doing for 15 years."

He acknowledged that the closer he got to the 30 years the harder it became for him to go through with it because "you're going to change your whole life."

While Deitz said he was fairly certain he would make this move prior to the start of the season, a couple of factors helped make up his mind.

Deitz said he always prided himself on being able to motivate players, but that became harder during his three years with the Mustangs. Also the superintendent (Charles McConnell), principal (Kenny Nicholson) and athletic director (Gene McConnell) who hired him have all retired.

"When I took the job, I told them my plans were to retire in three or four years," Deitz said. "I didn't know that the superintendent, principal and athletic director were going to be gone that soon. There were some things that happened that we kind of got left out in the cold in." He declined to elaborate.

"It is always hard to lose a coach with Coach Deitz's expertise in the area of football," current SMHS Principal Ken Henke said. "It will be a long search to find a coach with as much knowledge of the game."

Henke added, "He was instrumental in motivating the community to support the football program. Through his efforts we have improved the stadium, including the track, and have a brand new field house, which is almost complete. Of course, a person with such a long career in such a demanding field is expected and allowed to retire at some point. So today we must say farewell to Coach Deitz, and we wish him the best."

Henke said there was no firm timetable for naming Deitz's replacement, but he hopes to have someone on board to work with the retiring coach this spring in a transition period. Henke also said he planned to meet with Superintendent Frank Burrell and appoint a search committee, which will include faculty members and Athletic Director Si Simmons.

When Deitz was hired, he filled a newly-created position with the New Century Scholars program. His contract did not include teaching responsibilities. While saying he was willing to be somewhat creative in fitting a new coach into a position, Henke said Deitz's replacement would have some teaching duties.

"When you think about Boyce, you think about energy, willingness to work and vision for the facilities and what they needed to be," Simmons said. "He led us to the playoffs two years in a row, and that was quite an accomplishment."

Simmons and Henke both said candidates for the job could include members of the current staff as well as those from other programs.

"We'll move as quickly as we can," Simmons said. "There are decisions that need to be made as far as off-season workouts and summer schedules. More importantly than a timetable, we need to make sure we get the right person for the kids, the school and the community. This is the first time in modern times this position is wide open. We owe it to ourselves to see who's out there." Deitz inherited a Mustang program that had not had a winning season or playoff appearance since 1992. After going 4-5-1 in his first year, SM went 7-4 and reached the playoffs in 1998. The 1999 team was 6-5 and gave the Mustangs their first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1988-89.

The last two seasons ended with lopsided losses to Asheville in the first round of the playoffs.

"We were satisfied to get to the playoffs that first year," he said. "This year we really needed to win a playoff game. It was a real downer for us and our kids to end up losing like that again. Of course, as Asheville went on to the state finals, we realized we lost to a good team."

One of his regrets is that the Mustangs never got to host a playoff game in his tenure. "I always thought getting a home playoff game did something for the school and community," Deitz said. "That was a disappointment. We had an opportunity to do that this year and kind of let it slip through our fingers."

As a player, Deitz was a member of state championship teams at Sylva-Webster (now Smoky Mountain) in 1965 and 1966. He started his coaching career as an assistant to Babe Howell at S-W while he was attending Western Carolina University. As a member of Howell's staff, he helped the Golden Eagles to state titles in 1972 and 1973.

When he arrived here as head coach, Deitz found facilities he felt had not been upgraded since his days as a player and assistant. He immediately went to work with a highly successful fund-raising campaign to renovate the dressing rooms, Carr Hooper Stadium and the surrounding track. The field house was part of that plan.

"I was overwhelmed when I took this job with how much needed to be done," Deitz said. "I was equally overwhelmed with the support of the community. I would really like to thank every person who helped us. We've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go."

Deitz said he regrets that he won't have the opportunity to lead a team out of the new field house one time.

Starting a football team for freshmen in addition to the varsity and JV squads and getting the community more involved in the program are two of the things he's proudest of during his time here. This fall will mark the first time since 1962 that he has not been involved in football as a player or coach.

"I've already decided when that first day of practice comes I'm going to be somewhere on Caney Fork fly fishing," he said.

Deitz said he has no definite plans for retirement other than to work with his small herd of cattle, do some farming and fishing, and walk in the woods during the fall. He also will have time to visit his daughters in West Virginia and Nebraska as well as spend more time with his wife, Sandra, to whom he attributes a big part of his success.

Deitz could take a job outside of football. He also didn't rule out returning to the sidelines. "If I saw a situation where I knew there was an administration that would be supportive and they had set goals and I felt I could help them reach those goals, I'd flirt with something like that," he said. For now, Deitz will continue with the off-season details a football coach must keep up with until his replacement is hired.

"I'll be in this community if there is anything I can do to help," he said. "I'd like to think my expertise is something they would use in finding a new person."

Having invested so much in the program, Deitz is keenly interested in the type person hired as his replacement.

"If the new coach is not a go-getter, then what we've got started will go right back down the drain," he said. "I hope they put a lot of thought into finding the right person."

Deitz said his most memorable game here was probably his first one when he returned to Swain and the field that bears his name. He said players have told him that was the most emotional game they were ever involved in.

The Mustangs and Maroon Devils will renew their rivalry in the first game of the 2000 season. "That will be interesting to watch them play," Deitz said. "I'm going to be standing right dead in the middle. I'd flip the coin if they'd like."

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