The construction going on all around him is the perfect metaphor for Andy Harding’s first year at Bloomington North.
He is, by happenstance, the Cougars’ fourth head football coach in four years and, he noted, will be the sixth in six years for the seniors who came through Tri-North Middle School. He intends to halt the carousel.
Everything is changing on the north side of campus, but that also means it’s growing and improving. Harding, a former Cougar, is back home and has been busy laying his own foundation this summer in anticipation of the first official day of practice on Monday, Aug. 3 for the 2026 season.
“Obviously this is a big day for us and a big day for me,” Harding said. “We’ve had this entire summer to get to know one another and work with each other. Now, it’s official. We get to start fine-tuning a lot of stuff because we’ve been in a big learning mode all summer long.
“I’m learning the kids. The kids are learning me. We’re learning a new offense, we’re learning a new defense. So now that we’ve gotten a lot of that out of the way, now we can start progressing and picking up the pace.”
At Owen Valley, another familiar face has returned home as Troy Burgess takes over the Patriot program he guided to a 33-9 record from 1998-2001. He was able to provide a spark for OV’s program back then and has the same challenge now.
“We always use the term, ‘It’s kind of like Christmas Day,'” Burgess said. “I still have a framed newspaper from my first day of practice, my first head coaching job, right out here. So it brings back a lot of great memories. That’s been 30 years ago.”
Many of the faces from that old newspaper are still around today, including veteran assistants Duane Potts, Brian Greene and Chad Smith and athletic director Brad Greene, who played quarterback for Burgess.
“Everyone on my staff, with the exception of one coach, has either played for me here or coached with me here,” Burgess said. “So a lot of familiarity. I couldn’t have asked for more from my staff or players.”
Welcome home
Harding sits in an office still needing some paint and furniture, game worn helmet from Manchester on his desk along with this year’s white North helmet with Cougar logo adorning both sides.
There’s still work going on in the locker room as well as the new building next door. Fencing is going up and turf is being installed on the soccer field down the hill. It’s a far cry from 25 years ago.
“We were marching from all the way down where the baseball team is now,” said Harding of the former football locker room in the school building. “What it was whenever I was here to now, the investment that the school corporation has put in there, you just walk outside see all the construction and all the things, when this project is done it’ll be absolutely beautiful. A top-ranked facility. I’d put in on par with anyone else. But I don’t want us to stop there.”
Harding’s team building project in the offseason included a senior cook-out at the end of June. He put a youth camp together in late July and also got together with the girls volleyball team for a Spikes and Spirals, which had football players taking on volleyball and vis-a-versa.
“It’s uniting these sports teams,” Harding said. “I want that. I want the volleyball girls to be at our games. I want our guys at their games. I want to get this school community together.”
Burgess took a break from coaching after leaving Frontier in 2021, moving into an athletic director role at South Putnam. The scenery has changed for him as well, coming off practice on the turf field as opposed to the grass practice field his teams used back in the day.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I feel like being a kid all over again. Just to be able to coach football again and to come back here and do it. Just to be around these guys.
“I missed the camaraderie. I developed some great relationships here and to be able to come back with coach Potts, Brian Greene, Brad Greene, Chad Smith, Steven Hobbs, the whole list, I’m sure I missed someone, just to be able come back and spend time with those guys again. I missed that.”
OV’s emphasis this year is to ‘Build on Tradition’, a sign that hangs on the wall of OV’s locker room above pictures of past teams. A few faces are the same, but there’s a bit more gray on top now.
“There was a lot of tradition here before I became the head coach 30 years ago,” Burgess said. “Dick Ranard, very successful coach here and Potts did it for almost 20 years.
“That’s something that I’ve really tried to build on.”
Building numbers
In both cases, frequent turnover in coaches is something Harding and Burgess want to fight. North has managed to persevere with winning records each of the past three seasons.
“They’re used to it, unfortunately,” Harding said. “But they know they want to come to work and they know they’re going to win. Kids have been amazing in the transition. They’ve embraced it. When we’ve had to get on them, they’ve responded well.”
The way North came through for a coach, Brett Cooper, who had little run time with them before the season, makes for a promising future that they can exceed expectations again. A good sign is seeing how much they want to understand the process as much as the system.
“One thing I’ve seen out of them is, they ask questions,” Harding said. “I may say, ‘Hey, we’re doing this’ And they ask, ‘Why?’ And I’m OK with that, they genuinely want to know why. I have a different mindset. The defense that we’re running is the defense that I’ve been running in Tarboro (North Carolina) for the last 11 years, the defense Tarboro is still running right now.
“We’re putting a few spins and twists on stuff. But they’ve shown they’re willing to work. They want work. It’s instilled in them from their parents and the community. It’s who they are. They were not happy with how last year ended, so we’re talking about that, rebuilding that image.”
Owen Valley is trying to shake off three straight losing seasons, the last two were tough on a number of young players who were thrown into varsity roles as freshmen and sophomores.
“We have really come a long way,” Burgess said. “Obviously, you talk to any coach, we’re not far enough along yet, we’re never happy. But since taking the job in the spring, we’ve come a long way.
“I was able to get down here after school some for some weights and get to know the kids a little bit. I was lucky at South Putnam I had people who could cover some things for me. Just had a great summer with them. Kids bought in.”
North has around 50 varsity players and nearly 30 freshmen, numbers Harding is eager to grow.
He is also looking for more buy-in, including from fans and students. He’s introducing theme nights. Game 1 is a Blackout and t-shirts have sold out. He’s also looking to show up at Tri-North and Batchelor games and get in touch with youth league coaches, with a special night for them planned as well.
“Getting people to know who I am,” Harding said. “Yes, I’m from here but I’ve been gone for a while. I’m still trying to sell my house (in North Carolina), so I’m thankful my sister is allowing me to stay with her, so I love her for that.
“I’m still connecting with my family. My mom is getting up there in age and she’s been battling different things and we have lunch once a week. Just little things since I lost my dad in ’23. Our football team picked up trash after the Taste of Bloomington and saw people I hadn’t seen in a while.”
Burgess said he will have just under 50 players out. He’d like to increase that, of course, but he’s also determined to up the number of kids consistently coming to summer workouts. To do that, setting the right tone and creating the right environment is key.
“That’s exactly what we’ve talked about from Day 1,” Burgess said. “We have to set a culture that we want. A culture that gets kids excited about football. Winning takes care of a lot of things, but you’re going to have some up years and have some down years, and it’s how you get through the down years.
“We stress that family mentality first. And it’s a culture the kids buy into and believe in, then that can get you through some tough times.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: New eras begin at Bloomington North and Owen Valley football programs
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
