High School

North Carolina High School Football Coach Steps Down for 2nd Time

Brian Hales has resigned twice from the same program

Kevin L. Smith

Brian Hales recently resigned as head coach of the Butler High School football team for the second time in 20 months.
Brian Hales recently resigned as head coach of the Butler High School football team for the second time in 20 months. / Butler Bulldogs Football/X

A high school football coach in North Carolina recently made a decision with his future.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Brian Hales, head coach of the Butler High School football team, stepped down for the second time in less than two years.

Hales originally retired from coaching in March 2024 but returned to the Bulldogs on an interim basis after former coach Glenwood Ferebee resigned in May 2025.

Ferebee, a former two-time NCHSAA state champion coach at Chambers, led a Bulldogs squad that went 4-7 in 2024.

After 21 seasons of coaching Butler football, Hales told The Charlotte Observer it was time for him “to fully step away.”

“My love and appreciation for Butler, and the football program, will never diminish,” Hales said. “It has been one of the great loves of my life. The game gave me purpose, brotherhood and meaning – but it also demanded everything I had. This decision isn’t about walking away; it’s about turning inward. I’m taking this time to reinvest in myself, to rediscover who I am beyond the sidelines and to explore the second half of my life with the same passion and intention I brought to the game.”

Hales, a teacher at Butler High School, guided the Bulldogs to a second-round playoff appearance despite a 5-7 record on the season. 

Before becoming Butler’s head coach, Hales was an assistant coach for Mike Newsome, who won two state titles in 2009 and 2010.

Hales took over as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 2011. He guided Butler to a 15-0 record and a third NCHSAA championship crown in the 2012 season.

It is currently unclear if Hales, who has a career record of 136-41, will return to coaching.

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Kevin L. Smith
KEVIN L. SMITH

Kevin L. Smith, a Rochester (NY) native and a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, has been covering high school sports for over a decade. He started out as a freelance sportswriter in 2013. Since then, he’s held sportswriter and editor positions for newspapers in Coudersport (PA), Sayre (PA) and Oswego (NY). Smith currently covers high school sports in the Greater Syracuse Area for syracuse.com | Post-Standard, a position he’s held since 2021. You can follow him on social media @KevLSmittie. Story ideas can be sent to KLSFreelancing@outlook.com.

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