Wagner steps down as EW boys', girls' soccer coach

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 27, 2015 7:18 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

After two-plus decades of molding the Eastern Wayne men's and women's soccer teams into perennial conference and postseason contenders, Jorg Wagner has decided to retire as the program's head coach.

He announced his decision via email.

Messages from former players quickly flooded his inbox.

"Really coach?" one person replied.

But each showed support for Wagner, who coached 21 years -- a total of 42 seasons -- on the sidelines. He plans to teach physical education at Eastern Wayne and Northeast elementary schools once he receives approval by the Wayne County Board of Education during their August meeting.

Eastern Wayne principal Gene Byrd said that Wagner' move to the elementary school came as a "complete surprise."

"(There is) not a more knowledgeable soccer coach anywhere ... is a great teacher of the game," Byrd said. "(He is) a great health and PE teacher, does every aspect of his job at a very high level of expertise.

"I have enjoyed knowing and working with him. I wish him well at his new chosen job."

Wagner's successor has not officially been named.

Afternoon and Saturday morning practices, along with game days that involved occasional travel, limited Wagner's time as a husband and father. His oldest daughter, Katie, will attend Wayne School of Engineering this year.

His younger daughter, Emma, will enter school soon.

When I first went over there (to EW Elementary), I realized there is a whole world that I hadn't been in yet and it seemed really intriguing to me to really focus on the teaching part," Wagner said. "That is something that I thought was really neat. Family-wise, that's the second reason I moved into that direction was having two little ones around the house.

"When you are coaching, you do it for the kids, but at the end of the day you have to make decisions that are right for your family because this is what's going to last."

During his tenure that spanned 794 games, Wagner guided the Warriors to numerous accolades on both the men's and women's scene. His squads claimed a combined 11 league championships in the Mideastern 4-A and Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference ranks.

On the men's side, his 1999 team advanced to the final four and his 2000 team logged a program-best 21-2 worksheet. His last 14 women's teams have advanced to the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

This past season, the Warriors finished 9-9-0 and claimed the 3-A automatic berth in the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference boys' race. Less than six months later, Wagner's girls ended up 10-7-0 and also swept their 3-A opponents in ECC play.

"With the boys, we've had a couple of rough years, but I think we came back strong," Wagner said. "With the girls, we've never had much of a down side. We started going to the playoffs 14 years ago and have never looked back ... has always been our clear focus.

"We've talked about 2-2-2 -- top two in the conference, two in the conference tournament (before the new ECC realignment) and preferably two (rounds) in the state playoffs. The playoffs have been a little difficult to come by ever since the seeding started."

The most enjoyable part of Wagner's career at Eastern Wayne has been the yearly alumni game. Former players return for an evening of fellowship and the annual battle between the alumni and current players.

The alumni lead the series 13-4-1.

In his email, Wagner thanked the players "for your dedication and your loyalty, thank you for the long hours of training, thank you for the good times and the hard times and, most importantly, thank you for allowing me the privilege to hear you call me 'coach.'"