John Faircloth forges a new future for Owen football
Warhorses emphasize toughness and commitment as bedrock of stability
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 5, 2024
First-year Owen head football coach John Faircloth will make his debut, Aug. 23, when the Warhorses host Enka to open the 2024 season. Photo by Fred McCormick
John Faircloth has no interest in shortcuts or quick fixes. As the Warhorses prepare to host Enka at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 23, to open the 2024 football season, the fourth head coach to lead the team in the past decade is far more concerned with cultivating a culture that promotes long-term success.
While the process will no doubt be tedious, the potential payoff — restoring the once-vaunted Owen football program to its former glory — is well worth the effort.
Faircloth, a native of Erwin who played for and later joined the coaching staff at Mars Hill University, led the R-S Central program from 2021 through 2023. He was hired last January to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Zach Gibson, who left the school with a 3-17 record after two seasons at the helm. His departure followed a one-year stop by Brint Russell.
A resident of Black Mountain with children in the Owen school district, Faircloth is the first Warhorse head coach to live in the Swannanoa Valley since Nathan Padgett, who led the team for six seasons before accepting an assistant principal position with A.C. Reynolds in 2021. Padgett is returning to Owen as an assistant principal and athletic administrator for the upcoming school year.
The top priority for the newest Owen coach is restoring stability to a program that has won seven games in the past three seasons.
“It’s a slow process,” said Faircloth, who inherits a roster with three seniors, seven juniors and more than a dozen underclassmen. “Retention is the biggest word around the program, but there are three phases to retaining players: do kids feel like they’re getting better, are they having fun and are they experiencing success?”
The Owen Warhorses enter the 2024 season with a roster that includes three seniors and seven juniors, under first-year head coach John Faircloth. Photo by Fred McCormick
While the roster lacks experience, it compensates with toughness and a collective commitment to consistent improvement.
“I’ve never been at a place where the workout starts at 8 a.m. and everybody is waiting and ready for the whistle to blow at 7:58 a.m.,” said Faircloth, whose coaching career has included stints at Colorado State and Black Hills State Universities. “This is a very coachable group of players because they want to not only be good, but get better everyday. They understand it’s a process, and they want to be a part of that.”
The coaching staff, which features Faircloth’s brother and offensive coordinator Jeff Grier, Brook King, Daniel Evans and longtime assistants Jack Slaughter and Matt Turner, champions a shared vision of success.
“When we talk about toughness, we don’t just mean physically. It’s being at least 1% better everyday, and doing all of the things that put us in a position to win games,” Faircloth said. “We might lose to another team, but Owen isn’t going to beat Owen. That means no illegal shift penalties, no unsportsmanlike flags and limiting turnovers. If you’re finishing a game with minus three turnovers, it’s going to be really hard to win that game.”
The team is focused on reaching achievable and measurable goals while limiting mistakes.
“We have to control what we can control,” the coach said. “We’re not playing 'flashy’ football, we want to manage the clock, prevent explosive plays and emphasize stops on third down. These are all things we’re capable of doing, and if we can put all of that together, that’s huge.”
Sophomore quarterback Emmet Minks is slated to run Owen’s triple option offense, boosted by a versatile stable of running backs. The position group, which includes senior Tristan King, junior Hayden Burpeau and sophomore Stephen Anderson, represents a diverse arsenal capable of keeping opposing defenses off-balance, according to Faircloth.
Owen assistant coach Jack Slaughter leads defensive line drills, as the Warhorses prepare to open the 2024 season, Aug. 23, at home against Enka. Photo by Fred McCormick
“They have a little bit of everything,” he said. “There is some strength in the B back position and speed on the wings, so we have a nice combination of power and quickness. Every time we snap the ball, the defense has to account for four guys back there, and that’s one of the things that makes the triple option tough to defend. Plus, it’s a system we can cater to the players that are available to us at any given time.”
A receiving corps that features juniors Tru Davis, Houston Mashburn and sophomore Emerson Autrey provides a complementary battery for the running game.
“We’ve got some good receivers,” the coach said. “They’re really more like flexed out tight ends that we can bring in, depending on the situation, adding another element to this offense that people will have to account for.”
Leading the way for the offensive attack is an agile line that is “more than capable” of clearing running lanes, Faircloth continued.
“This is one of the most athletic offensive lines I’ve had,” he said. “We’re not very big, but that athleticism will help offset that. We just have to stay in the mindset that nobody is tougher than us.”
The group is led by senior Liam Franklin and junior Rio Obispo, each of whom will play a vital role on the defensive side of the ball.
“Liam is our Mike linebacker, and he’s smart as they come,” Faircloth said. “Rio, who has emerged as a leader on this team, is someone on the line that other teams will have to game plan for.”
The defensive scheme relies on a swarming unit to neutralize opposing offenses.
The Owen Warhorses will attempt to improve on a 2-8 record in 2023, as they enter this season under first-year head coach John Faircloth. Photo by Fred McCormick
“We have to be aggressive and live with the results of that aggressiveness,” Faircloth said. “We don’t want to find ourselves in a lot of third and tow situations; we want to get to you before you get to us.”
The unrelenting effort of King, who joins Franklin and Anderson among the linebacker unit, exemplifies that style.
“Tristan King only knows two gears: go and stop. And, when he’s on the field, he’s on ‘go,’” the coach said. “He is the reason we can’t have walkthroughs at Owen High School, because he can’t do anything at half-speed. That’s something that will elevate the players around him throughout the season.”
Success will not be measured by wins and losses, according to Faircloth, but instead by each player’s ability to display physical and mental toughness in critical situations and commitment to improvement, he added.
“These things are measurable and attainable,” Faircloth said. “Even if we have a night where we don’t play great, but every player is standing up, being a great teammate and playing as hard they can for as long as they can, that’s the start of building a successful culture and program.”
As the Warhorses attempt to avenge a 37-14 opening week loss to the Jets last season, Faircloth’s inaugural game on the sideline in front of a home crowd is one he anticipates, enthusiastically.
“I’m looking forward to looking up, seeing a bunch of Owen supporters and my family in the stands,” he said. “Being able to a call a game with my brother is a dream we’ve had since we were kids. I plan to take it all and enjoy the moment. When I put my head down on the pillow that night, I want to know I put the kids in a position to be successful.”