Glenwood Ferebee, who led Indian River to a 46-17 overall record in five seasons at the helm and their first Southeastern District title in 22 years, is leaving Chesapeake, he confirmed to VirginiaPreps.com on Thursday afternoon.
This week, Ferebee accepted a position as the new Head Football Coach at Vance High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He'll be formally introduced at a gathering in the school's gymnasium on Friday night. The school's previous Head Coach, Aaron Brand, is departing for a job as the Head Football Coach at Irmo High School in South Carolina.
"It was a tough decision and it wasn't a family decision. Given that the school reached out to me about the job and asked if I was interested, that made me feel wanted. Also, the fact they've played in the State Finals four of the last years made things a bit easier on the football side of things," Ferebee stated.
"But this wasn't about football. This was mostly personal, family decision. That's what I explained to my kids. This opportunity presented itself and I had to take it for my livelihood and being closer to my son."
Ferebee, 41, will now only be three hours away from his 11-year-old son who lives in Georgia. He's lived in Georgia since he was three years old. That was a key factor in his decision-making process.
When Ferebee got to Indian River, he replaced Cadillac Harris, who went 56-71 in 12 seasons at the helm of the Braves, highlighted by winning the Eastern Region Division 5 title in 2003. Ironically, Harris was Ferebee's Head Coach when he played quarterback at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach and threw passes to Plaxico Burress, who would go on to star in the NFL.
At the college level, Ferebee transitioned from quarterback to wide receiver at Liberty University. His first gig as a Head Football Coach came at Lakeland High in Suffolk, where he guided the Cavaliers to a 24-29 mark. Following a winless campaign in 2010, the Cavs posted a 15-8 record that saw the program make its first ever trip to the regional playoffs as a Group AAA school. They returned the very next year to the playoffs, beating city rival King's Fork in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual State Champion Lake Taylor in the 2012 semis.
Ferebee was hired in January of 2013 by Hampton University to be the quarterbacks coach and was then promoted to the offensive coordinator before the team's season opener. The Pirates ended up going 4-8 overall and dismissed the entire coaching staff, including Head Coach Donovan Rose.
Hired in 2014 by Indian River, Ferebee led the Braves to a 8-4 mark his first season on the job that was accompanied by the program's first playoff victory in seven years. They followed that up the next season by going 11-3 and reaching the State Semifinals. Indian River went 7-5 in 2016 and then 8-4 overall during the 2017 campaign, bowing out in the second round of the regional playoffs.
The Braves enjoyed their first unbeaten regular season since 1996 last year while also defeating city rival Oscar Smith for the first time in 20 years. Maury ended their season by beating Indian River, 42-21 in the Region 5A Championship the day after Thanksgiving.
In 2018, Vance finished 14-2 overall, falling to Wake Forest, 9-7, in the Class 4AA State Championship. To say the cupboard is far from bare might be an under statement.
The Cougars bring back a boatload of talent, headlined by North Carolina State Defensive Player of the Year Power Echols, who had 160 tackles and nine sacks a season ago. Going into his junior season, Echols has more than 15 scholarship offers.
Also returning for Vance are Class of 2020 prospects in linebacker Stefon Thompson (118 tackles, 10 sacks), defensive end Stephen Sings (12.5 sacks), plus defensive backs Jaylen Gullate and Marqui Lowery, who combined for 97 tackles and five interceptions. Spearheading the offense will be Class of 2021 running back Joseph Morris, who rushed for 1341 yards as a sophomore.
"There's a lot of pieces. Just watching some of the film of Charlotte football, they play real good football down there," Ferebee commented. "For them to be in it to win it every year, it says a lot about the culture of that program. As a coach, you don't have to necessarily build a culture because it's already there. So there are some differences with this situation in comparison to Indian River and Lakeland."
As for who'll replace Ferebee at Indian River, it might be someone with the very same last name. Glenwood has endorsed his brother, offensive coordinator Marcus Ferebee, to take the helm of the Braves moving forward.
"I think he deserves it," Glenwood remarked. "With him being my brother, I'm certainly bias. But I think he's done enough over the past 10 years as my offensive coordinator to warrant somebody giving him an opportunity. I think he's put himself in a position to at least garner some consideration."
Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a regular contributor to the ACC Sports Journal. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him weeknights from 6-7 PM on The 757 at 6 as well as every Saturday at 10 AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1.
