Goshen football coach, AD resigns

Coaching and handling athletic director’s duties at a school 45 minutes from home and more than an hour from where his kids attended school got to be too much for Joe Thornton.

The Goshen head coach and athletic director resigned his duties Monday to take an assistant football coaching position at Enterprise. His resignation was accepted by the Pike County Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting.

While at Goshen, Thornton had been living in Enterprise. At the same time, his wife was teaching at Kinston and his four kids (ages 14, 12, 10 and 8) were attending school in Kinston, an hour and 10 minutes away from Goshen.

“It was strictly a family reason,” said Thornton of his move. “I am athletic director (here at Goshen) and when you do that, you are gone all the time and I was missing things (with the kids).

“This is a good fit for my family. They have a good program at Enterprise and it’s an opportunity to join a good group of guys (coaches).
“This gives me about eight hours a week back (to be with my family).”

Thornton will coach running backs on Enterprise’s football staff and teach drivers education.

He was in his second tour of duty at Goshen. He coached the Eagles from 1999-2001 before taking the head coaching job at Saks High School near Anniston then returned to Goshen in 2005.

Overall in seven years, the Eagles were 38-37 under Thornton with three state playoff teams.

Goshen went 16-25 in the last four years with Thornton, including 15-16 the last three seasons.

Last year’s team went 5-6, losing to Pickens County in the first round of the playoffs —  the program’s first postseason appearance since 2001. However this year’s team had one of the bigger highlights in this decade with a 51-26 win over rival Pike County.

Thornton has a career record of 43-61, including a 5-24 mark in three years at Saks.

“Goshen will always have a special place in my heart,” Thornton said. “They have a good group of kids and a good community.

“It was a tough, tough decision and I prayed long and hard on it. It boiled down to what was best for my family and spending more time with the family and kids.

“I want to thank Dr. (Mark) Bazzell, the superintendent, Mr. Gene Nelson, the former principal, and Dr. Al Griffin, the current principal. They were nothing but supportive of the program and of me.”

Though Goshen lost a strong senior class, the Eagles return a strong nucleus for next year, highlighted by all-state honorable mention running back Marcus Jackson.

Jackson, a rising junior, rushed for 1,466 yards and 24 touchdowns last year.

“Everything is in good shape,” Thornton said. “There is a lot of talent coming back.”