Back in January of 2007, the hiring of Gary Merrill as the Person High School head football coach created much excitement and anticipation in the community.

Just 15 months later, the excitement has turned into extreme disappointment as Merrill officially resigned from the position on Thursday.

His departure has now left the program in need of a replacement for 2008.

When contacted by phone this week and asked about his reasons for leaving, Merrill would only say that he resigned due to “personal reasons,” and added that he’s not looking to coach again anytime soon.

“Right now, I have nothing planned. I’m just going to go on and retire from teaching and coaching,” he said.

Along with his coaching duties, Merrill taught Physical Education at Person.

Principal Margaret Bradsher said a job posting has been placed on the school’s website and with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, and added that the school is looking to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.

But it won’t be an easy task.

“It’s a tough time of the year to be looking for coaches, usually they want spring and summer preparation time,” she said. “So it’s a hard time to be looking for somebody that wants to change.”

Bradsher also emphasized that Merrill’s resignation did not involve any fall out between the administration and the coach.

“It’s important for the public to know that there was nothing wrong there, it was just a very personal decision for him,” she said. “We will miss Coach Merrill and we appreciate what he’s done for our program and our kids. We’re sorry we couldn’t hold on to him. We wish him the best.”

Merrill reportedly had thoughts of retiring from teaching yet retaining his position as football coach at Person. But that wouldn’t have been possible under state rules, according to Bradsher.

“He had talked about that from the time we hired him,” she explained. “Because of state guidelines, you can’t do anything for the school for six months after retirement, so that wasn’t going to work.”

Other school officials expressed their regret at the coach’s departure.

“Coach Merrill had the [football] program going in an excellent direction and was making super progress,” said Gordon Powell, Chairman of the Person County Board of Education. “The team had a good year last year and I think the students were responding to him in the classroom and on the field. It’s just regretful that we’ve lost him but I understand it was his personal decision. I’m sorry to see him go and I wish him the best in the future.”

Merrill arrived on the scene sporting an impressive record as head coach at Northern Durham, where he led the Knights to a 102-20 overall mark from 1994-2003. That 10-year list of accomplishments included nine conference championships, four undefeated regular seasons, 10 postseason appearances, and just three losses in Piedmont Athletic Conference play (including a 10-0 record against Person).

In his one campaign as Rocket coach, Merrill guided the team to a 6-5 season, which was adversely effected by the forfeiture of two season-opening wins due to an ineligible-player infraction.

Person ended up second in the conference at 5-2, and lost in the first round of the Division 4A West Regional playoffs to Ardrey Kell, a second-year program out of Charlotte.

The tragic death of his wife in an automobile accident back in 2004 prompted Merrill to take a year off from coaching. He returned to the ranks as an assistant at Northern in 2005, and then moved on to lead the junior varsity team at Spring Creek High School in Wake County to a 7-0 record in 2006.

In regards to his one-season experience at Person, Merrill expressed his appreciation to supporters and wished the program luck next season.

“I appreciate the people that were in my corner and helped me and supported me through the last year,” he commented. “Hopefully things will continue to get better and the kids will work hard and have a successful season.”