Dwayne Garrick named Aiken head football coach

Dwayne Garrick has resigned as head football coach of the Barnwell Warhorses and has accepted the head football coaching job at Aiken High School.

Over his eight seasons in Barnwell, Coach Garrick helped return the Warhorse football team into a major force in AA football. Over that period, Garrick led the Warhorses to four Region Championships, and two Lower-State Championships. The Warhorses recorded an impressive 82 wins over the eight-year period. Dwayne Garrick also collected his 200th victory from his 23-year career during this past season. To say that coach Garrick will be missed is an understatement.

“We are grateful for the wonderful job that Coach Garrick did reviving our football program. Coach Garrick is a fantastic football coach that elevated our program to a higher level of success upon his arrival in 2015,” said Barnwell High Principal Franklin McCormack. “We are going to miss the positive impact that Coach Garrick had on our campus every day – teaching and mentoring our young men. The Warhorse community wishes Coach Garrick and his family good health as they travel down a new football road.”

Barnwell Athletic Director and assistant football coach Derek Youngblood said, “Our administration is thankful for all Coach Garrick has done for us at Barnwell High School. His impact on Barnwell High School is more than just football, because of the relationships that he has built with all of our students and staff. He is a first class man and I know that he will make a tremendous impact in the lives of the students and student-athletes at Aiken High School. Coaching football is what he does, but it is not who he is. He is going to work hard to develop lifelong relationships with his players and use the game of football to mold them into productive young men. It has always been more than X’s and O’s with him and it will continue to be that way at Aiken.”

When asked about his time at Barnwell, Garrick responded by saying, “I can’t say enough about the players and coaches at Barnwell High School and how much they have meant to me over the past eight years. The administration has supported me 100 percent since day one and for that I am grateful.”

This was Garrick’s second time at Barnwell High. He first served the Warhorses as an Assistant Football Coach in 1997, and was promoted to Head Coach and Athletic Director in 1999. He left Barnwell in 2002 for a position as Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Hillcrest High School. He went on to serve in similar capacities at Dorman, Williston-Elko and River Bluff, before returning to Barnwell as the school’s Head Football Coach in 2015.

“I send a special thanks to (former BHS Principal) Mr. Jon Burdge for giving me this opportunity eight years ago. We won a lot of football games and reignited some old rivalries. I wish nothing but the best for Barnwell and the players in the future,” said Garrick. “I look forward to joining Aiken High and building relationships with them.”

While Garrick doesn’t officially begin his new role as AHS Head Football Coach until June 10, he plans to get started soon for March’s open season.

“Football in high school is a year-round sport,” said Garrick. “Dedication, commitment, teamwork, all of those things will be big for our players. Athletics will be a steppingstone for these young men as far as life is concerned. We’ll teach those things on the football field that will help them achieve success in their lives.”

Many of Garrick’s players have earned awards and scholarships, but he also has won many coaching accolades, including Region 5 Coach of the Year (2018-2019), CSRA Coach of the Year (2018), South Carolina Football Coaches Association (SCFCA) Class A Upper State Coach of the Year (2010), Class A Division II Coach of the Year, and High School Sports Report (HSSR) Class A Division II Coach of the Year (2009). He has also been named coach of several post-season teams, including South Carolina’s Head Coach in Border Bowl (2018), North-South All Star Game Head Coach (2018), and Shrine Bowl Assistant Coach (2010).

On a personal note, I have known Dwayne Garrick for many years, and I have admired how he has done things “the right way.” He is one of the best high school coaches in the entire State of South Carolina, but he is also a man of very high morals and expectations. Aiken High School is getting a great man for their head football coach.

Barnwell will definitely miss Dwayne Garrick, but I hope everyone joins me in wishing coach Garrick the best of luck in his new position.