Why Coach Richard Bailey matters: An alternative analysis

Like most subscribers to The Laurinburg Exchange, I read the recent opinion piece about our football team and its coach. It disheartened me because it does not at all represent my experience with either Fight Scots Football or Coach Richard Bailey.

I’m not from Scotland County. But I’ve been here since I came down from Virginia at 17 years old to attend St. Andrews. I’ve spent my entire adult life here, and I attended my first Richmond game in the fall of 1990 as a student teacher at SHS; it was an awe-inspiring experience. I have been a Fighting Scot for two decades as a teacher, and I have known Richard Bailey as a friend and a colleague for 12 years. He lives right down the street from me and his classroom is right down the hall. These are my credentials for what I am about to discuss.

“Stagnation” is a strong word. It means “ceasing to flow; failure to develop, progress, or advance.” In some cases, it refers to the smell of rotten vegetation or non-moving pools of water. As an English teacher (and a huge fan of the language and all of its nuances), I love linguistic gymnastics and the use of strong, powerful diction. But, in this case, I cannot agree with the use of this term as it has been applied to Richard Bailey.

As far as his coaching record goes, there’s no need to defend him. The thumbnail version reads like this: Coach Bailey coached an offense to 38.38 points per game this season; has coached Scotland to seven out of eight seasons in which we have won a dozen or more games; has an 8-3 record against Richmond, a playoff record of 29-12, and an average of over three post-season wins per year; has 247 career wins and holds the title as the winningest coach in Jack Britt history and is nine victories away from being the winningest coach in Scotland history, and is responsible for three of our four state championship appearances. And he must be good at passing his knowledge on to those guys on the field because over 40 kids have gone on from his high school team to play college football. What Richard Bailey doesn’t know about coaching high school football isn’t worth discussing.

But there is so much more to the story. Scotland High School has had a hard time over the past 15 years or so. Little by little, we have found ourselves recovering from being split up into smaller learning communities, or cleaning up from massive hurricanes, or seeing a revolving door of leadership in the front office (I’ve had 14 principals since 2005).

Then came COVID-19. Everything changed. Nothing was “normal,” and nothing felt “right.” We began to lose our sense of community as our traditions began to break. Students who had looked forward to all the rites of passage high school entails suddenly found themselves feeling isolated from what should be four of some of the most interesting years of their lives. Were it not for the presence of a dedicated group of “old guard” folks at Scotland High School, we would have lost much more than we actually have. Richard Bailey is one of those folks.

The most uninterested tourists driving through Scotland County cannot pass Pate Stadium without seeing the Jumbotron and thinking, “Good grief! These folks must really like high school football!” And they are not wrong. Football is one of the ways in which our school is slowly beginning to reclaim itself and its traditions. Richard Massey’s voice, the same corny commercials for HVAC and pizza, the faces of cheerleaders long graduated in the insurance spot, and the same set list of “Pate Stadium” rock and roll are all part of how we remember football games to be before COVID came in like a bull in a China shop and tried to destroy everything. When we see and hear all of this, we begin to recover ourselves and our traditions and, hopefully, our sense of unity and pride. But none of this is anything for which Coach Bailey has any say. His sphere of power is between the goalposts, and it’s there that most folks in the stands are giving their attention.

Coach Bailey is a great coach. There’s no doubt. Jaylend Ratliffe, who requires no introduction, says this about his high school coach: “I think Coach Bailey is a phenomenal football coach. I don’t recall him not having one season that he hasn’t made the playoffs, do you? Everyone’s so quick to say “Oh, we need to win a state championship,” but I recall us winning only one state championship in the history of this high school and had we not shown up in the second half, we would not have that one. People don’t realize how hard it actually is to win a state championship.

Furthermore, look at the amount of kids he has driven to play at the collegiate level, the love and support he has from former players, active players, and the community. He has been a father figure to these young men who don’t know what having a dad in their home feels like, showing us how a wife should be treated, a kid should be raised. How to get back up after you’ve been knocked flat. Just by coaching football.

It’s easy to blame a coach when things go wrong on the field. One thing Coach Bailey has taught me (and I will believe this until the day I die) is this: “Ratliffe, win, lose or draw, there are two people who will always get credit, the quarterback, and the head coach. When we win, we’ll get all the praise. But when we lose, it’s worse. I will forever and always live by that because I will always be a quarterback in my own life: a leader.”

Jaylend talks about Coach Bailey as more than just the coach on the field. He speaks to his fatherhood, which leads to another facet: Richard Bailey as a role model. No one says it better than Zay Jones. “Coach Bailey is a wonderful dad, which makes him a wonderful coach, because he treats us like his own and is there to help us when needed. He is a man that has been doing this for years and is still dedicated and passionate about the game. There may be ups and downs at times, but he cares just as much as we players do.” So many of his players, past and present, speak of him as a father figure, a man to whom young men can look as an example.

But good role models have to stand the test of time. So, to get the real feel for Bailey’s gift, we have to talk to Tony Smith Jr., Class of 2018. “Coach Bailey has been a great role model to me and the epitome of resilience in my eyes because things don’t always go your way in life but you always have to keep going, as Coach would say. Wins and losses don’t determine a winner, resilience does. I appreciate the time, effort, love, and mentorship that Coach Bailey (and his wife) put into me and my teammates during our time at Scotland, whether that was through fellowship or rides home after practice or recruiting trips.

It was more than football with him; he gave us the tools and knowledge to be successful in life as young men. I can recall countless times discussing the importance of taking school seriously, or making sure you have a qualifying SAT or ACT score whether you were going to college to be an athlete or not, and understanding the importance of responsibility because one day you could possibly be a father or head of a household. He was more than COACH; he was MENTOR.

When I went off to college, if I had to do an internship or project where I had to work under someone, Coach Bailey was the first person to come to mind; he came through every time. I did an internship with Coach Bailey where I logged hands-on training as I learned about being coach and an athletic director.

It’s more than X’s and O’s with Coach Bailey. He wants you to be successful in life.”

So, football coach and role model. And then there is Richard Bailey as mentor. As Kellum Hunt will testify, “Coach Richard is a great man. People don’t understand what he goes through outside of Friday nights and what he does for us. He put in hours and hours in his office to come up with a game plan for the upcoming game. Coach Bailey may not have won a state championship yet, but look at his overall record. Coach Bailey and his personality, his character, his ability to put up with young men, his ability to put in work for the team to be great — Coach Richard Bailey is a great coach.” Wouldn’t we all like to believe the people we work with on a daily basis think this highly of us?

Off campus, there is Richard Bailey a member of this community. Besides the countless hours he spends (starting in the summer) to ready his team to provide the single-most entertaining event going on in Scotland County on any given Friday night, Coach Bailey gives his time to the community through The Richard Bailey Show at Fore’s, his Saturday morning appearances every Saturday morning on Scots Sports Saturday, and all of the times he comes to be the guest speaker at local functions. He’s coached baseball at Optimist Park and at Carver Middle School. He lives in our community, he shops in our stores, his kid attends our school, and his wife has undertaken the most visible and challenging principalship in the county. It would be hard to be more a part of the fabric of our culture than this!

And last, but certainly not least, there is Richard Bailey as educator. I have worked with him as a colleague since he came to town 12 years ago. He is an enthusiastic and dynamic instructor. There have been many times when I have been walking by Coach Bailey’s history class and seen the man up and waving his arms as he describes the Continental Army fighting for the freedom of the colonies or explaining the Teapot Dome Scandal—he is a loud and intractable believer in the maxim that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Which is another reason why he is a good coach. He is always assessing and reflecting on his practice, in the classroom and on the field. No one wants a state championship more than Coach Bailey. No one hates to lose a football game more than Coach Bailey. But no one understands that there is more to his role than wins and losses than Coach Bailey. And we are a better community because of it. Go Scots!