Wednesday, Jan. 8, 1997
By Chip Scoggins
Staff writer
Fayetteville (NC) Observer-Times
James Toon, who has not coached football since 1990, will be named head coach at Fayetteville State today.
FSU Athletic Director Horace Small confirmed Tuesday night that Toon, the director of intramural activities at North Carolina A&T,, will replace Jerome Harper, who resigned in November after posting a 18-29-4 record in five seasons. Toon and FSU assistant coaches Haney Catchings and John McKenzie interviewed for the job. McKenzie was recently hired as the head coach at Division I-A Delaware State.
"Coach Toon is a people person," Small said."He knows a lot about football. He is a community-based person. He is someone who works real well with people."
Beset with injuries and youth last year, the Broncos finished 2-8 and last in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association on offense, averaging just 163.4 yards per game.
"I'm very excited about the position of head coach at Fayetteville State University," Toon said from his home in Greensboro. "The first thing is I want to make the kids believe in themselves. I only saw them play one time last year so it's hard to judge where they are. I'm looking forward to coming on board. I am a disciplinarian. I believe in having a structured program, and I stress academic achievement and community involvement to athletes."
Small said Toon will be given full rein to hire five coaches. Toon said he will be in town today to meet the staff and also to resume talks with E.E. Smith head coach Milton Butts about being one of his top assistant coaches. Butts, the Mid -South 4-A Conference Coach of the Year, expressed interest in the head position at FSU. On Tuesday night, he said he's considering taking an assistant job if there’s a possibility of future advancement.
"It's not finalized yet," Butts said. "When it is, and if it is, I'll let you know. It's still iffy. I will give you all the details, I would say, within the week. There will be a promise of advancement, some educational advancement and some financial advancement, if that comes to be.
"I talked with Mr. (Lonnie) McAllister (E.E. Smith principal). He knows the entire situation. Nothing is finalized. We have to talk to (Toon). We have to sit down and we have to talk and get the paperwork. If everything is OK, then we have to get the paperwork together."
Toon has worked at A&T, his alma mater, the past 24 years, but he has not coached football since the 1990 season when he was the Aggies' defensive line coach. Toon played at A&T from 1958-61 and was an all-American in 1958 when the Aggies won the CIAA championship. He played professionally for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos and the NFL's New York Giants.
This will be Toon's first head coaching position, but he said he is not worried about a six-year layoff from coaching.
"If anything, it's just given me more energy to return to coaching," he said. "Football is football. It's still the same principles. The terminology may be a little different.";
Quarterback Chris Stewart, who was the player representative on a six-member committee that interviewed applicants, said Toon's hiatus bothers him.
"That concerns me a lot," Stewart said from his home in Winston-Salem. "He needs to be willing to get back into the swing of things quickly. But it doesn't make any difference what I think. But he had some good points in his interview. He knew where he wanted to take the program. He said he wanted to straighten up the discipline."