When Cory Lea joined the UNC football program as a walk-on in 1990, it was hardly a fashionable time to be a Tar Heel.
UNC had consecutive 1-10 seasons under Mack Brown, who arrived from Tulane to replace Dick Crum in 1988. Their struggles were so profound, they were daily fodder for morning radio show comedy bits.
The common joke around Durham and Raleigh (and even a few good natured UNC fans) became:
Q: “Why does Billy Graham want to hold a revival meeting inside Kenan Stadium?”
A: “Because every Saturday, Carolina fans keep screaming ‘Jesus Christ!'”
Three years after the Tar Heels’ last 1-10 season, they won the Peach Bowl over Mississippi State in the Georgia Dome. The following year, they played Alabama in the Gator Bowl. Lea was on the sidelines for both games.
Though he rarely played for the Tar Heels, Lea had no idea at the time that his looming career in education and coaching would mirror UNC’s rise to gridiron prosperity in the 1990s.
Lea was formally introduced to Cedar Ridge parents, students and staff inside the school’s Media Center on Monday night. The ceremony included introductions from new Cedar Ridge principal Dr. Carlos Ramirez and Athletic Director Andy Simmons.
“We scored a big win by having Cory join our staff,” Ramirez said. “He will begin building our program into, what I hope, will be perennial winners. I would like to see and support our Cedar Ridge program begin building athlete-scholar starting in elementary school. And that’s going to take a community effort. We have big plans down the road to make that happen.”
“We’re looking to establish solid relationships in the community with everybody,” Lea said. “I want us to be a culture in a school that wins at everything. To me, that is probably the most important thing that you can do as a school community. If you win at everything, then that permeates into everything. It permeates into your community.”
Lea arrives from Riverside, where he led the Pirates to its second conference championship in school history in 2018. Last season, Riverside finished 8-4 and reached the state playoffs for the second straight year.
When Lea took over at Northern Vance in 2015, the Vikings had won four games in the previous four years. In Lea’s first season, they finished 5-6, ending the year with a victory over Cedar Ridge in Hillsborough.
If Lea had his way, his arrival in Hillsborough would have happened years ago. He applied for the vacant Red Wolves head coaching job in 2016 when former Burlington Cummings head coach Steve Johnson resigned before he ever coached a game in Hillsborough because of a thoracic aortic aneurysm. Scott Loosemore, who eventually wound up with the permanent job for two seasons, served as interim coach in 2015.
“I’m destination driven,” Lea said. “Either I get a promotion or every once in awhile, there’s some place I really want to go. That list is very short. This is a place where I want to go. This is where I want to be. When the job came open again, I talked to Antonio King (Cedar Ridge’s coach in 2018) and I talked to Coach (Torrian) Hinton (who served as interim coach in 2019). They told me ‘Yeah, that’s a place you want to be.’ So here I am.”
After a year as offensive coordinator at Granville Central under head coach Don Colgan, Lea’s first head coaching job was at Bartlett Yancey in 2012. He went 2-9 in each of his two seasons. It was there where he learned about trying to do more with less.
“I’m not one of these guys that has to have a $5,000 piece of equipment,” Lea said. “We can remember showing up to practice and it was just me and Coach Antwain Cook. (his defensive coordinator). It teaches you how to be an effective coach and get things done.”
Lea has maintained a residence in Durham throughout his teaching career, so he came to Riverside as offensive coordinator to be closer to home. Lea left for Northern Vance a year later.
His success in Henderson led to a call back from Riverside officials when Howell left in 2016.
“I didn’t even have to apply for that job,” Lea said. “They called me. That says a lot about how my staff is able to build relationships and how we built things in the community.”
Lea also wasted no time in drawing the battle lines with Orange, which has ruled the roost in Orange County football since the departure of Joe Kilby as Cedar Ridge coach nine years ago.
Cedar Ridge hasn’t beaten Orange since 2011, when they won a 49-43 shootout. Since then, the Panthers have won seven consecutive matchups by a combined score of 309-43.
“There are two objectives that we have: to walk in the door and win games. And to beat that team across town,” Lea said. “Period.”
A crosstown rivalry was a big part of Lea’s job at Riverside. Last September, the Pirates beat neighboring Northern Durham for the first time since 2013.
“When we were at Riverside, we had the same pains that ya’ll had,” Lea said. “When we walked in the door there (at Riverside), we had never beaten Orange, ever. For the last two years, they (Orange) now know what it’s like to lose (to Riverside). I’m going to bust my behind to get those things done here.”
At his previous two stops, Lea has proved he can do more than compete with the Panthers. In 2016, Northern Vance battled Orange in a defensive struggle that the Panthers prevailed in, 14-0, in the final ever game between the two teams.
Riverside won the last two matchups against Orange, including September’s 28-26 victory at Linny Wrenn Stadium in Durham. They also beat the Panthers 22-6 on Orange’s senior night in November 2018.
Lea isn’t just rebuilding a team as he starts with Cedar Ridge. He’s building a program. The Red Wolves didn’t field a varsity team two years ago, which led to an ugly summer of 2018 between unhappy parents and county administrators, resulting in numerous transfers and coaching departures that devastated the entire athletic program.
While all that is in the rear view mirror, Cedar Ridge has won only three varsity football games in three years. They haven’t had a junior varsity and varsity team in the same season since 2017.
The most common word that came up with Lea on Monday night was relationships. He plans to utilize that in Hillsborough for his latest challenge.
“I’m going to go to Gravelly Hill (Middle School) stuff,” Lea said. “I’m going to go to Stanback (Middle School) stuff. They may look at me sideways, but I may show up at a Stanford game. I think the first thing you have to do is make them comfortable with you personally. It is our intention to have a football camp this summer and I want to make it free because we just want kids out there.”
Lea will have his assistants accompany him to Hillsborough. Defensive coordinator Antwain Cook, who succeeded Lea at Northern Vance as head coach, will be the defensive coordinator. Zack Russell (offensive line), Caleb Russell (quarterbacks), John Seagroves (associate head coach), and Don McDowell (wide receivers coach) will also be on Lea’s staff.