More News

Wednesday evening, Davidson and Potomac Athletic Director Joanna Stephens said longtime Potomac assistant coach Ronnie Crump will take over as head coach for the 2010 season.

Stephens said she had not spoken directly with Davidson, but heard "by hearsay" that he was leaving. Stephens said moving Crump into the head coaching job was the best move the school could make, given the short timeframe before the season begins. Public school football teams in Maryland begin preseason practices on Aug. 14.

"[Davidson] didn't leave very much time, so I had to move in someone I know," Stephens said. "[Crump] was already on staff. I asked him if he wanted to be moved up and he said he could handle it. He's been working with the kids all summer. I don't think [the coaching change] will hurt our football team. [Crump] spends a lot of time with the kids."

Crump is a 1989 Potomac graduate and earned all-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association honors as a linebacker at Virginia Union University in 1993. He returned to Prince George's County the following year and began coaching football with the Silver Hill Boys and Girls Club, where he remains a member of the board of directors. He has been an assistant coach at Potomac since 1999 and taught English at the school from 1999-2008 before taking a similar position at Green Valley Academy in Temple Hills, an alternative school run by the Prince George's Schools for students who have difficulty adjusting to mainstream high school life.

"It's an honor to be a head coach at place I've been part of all my life," said Crump, part of head coach Eric Knight's staff when Potomac won Class 2A state titles in 2004 and 2005. "I'm always around the kids, at workouts and going to camps trying to get kids exposure [to college coaches]. I'm always around the program. It's nothing new for me. We're going to be successful. Things have been established. Now we just have to go back to the old Potomac ways – winning."

Davidson and Crump said they had not addressed the team, but Davidson said some players were aware of his plans to leave. He said he accepted the new job early this week and sent his letter of resignation to the Prince George's Schools on Tuesday night.

The move to Cape Hatteras will be a return to North Carolina for Davidson, who previously was the head coach for three seasons at Columbia High in Columbia, N.C. He also has had head coaching stints at Philipsburg-Osceola High in Philipsburg, Pa., West Potomac High in Alexandria, Va., and La Plata High in La Plata, Md.

After spending 2007 as an assistant coach at Potomac, Davidson took the top job with the Wolverines in 2008 and guided the team to a 12-9 record in two seasons. Potomac qualified for the 3A South Region playoffs last year and lost in the regional semifinals, 30-12, to Westlake.

Davidson and his wife have two daughters and he said they are expecting twins within the next week. At Cape Hatteras, he will teach social studies and be an assistant athletic director and head football coach.

"Whether it's me or someone else [coaching at Potomac] the football program is going to go on," Davidson said. "Coach Crump and I work so closely together, I don't expect there to be a dropoff recruiting-wise, and when there's a change, that's really where the impact is. If you don't have someone who's an advocate for the kids, you really would feel an impact. But there are colleges coming through the building now that we didn't have before that are noticing our players."

Among the most noticed are running back Ron Darby and fullback/linebacker Josh Thorne, both of whom will be juniors this fall. Darby already has amassed several scholarship offers, and Davidson said he expects Thorne will have offers before the summer is over.

Thorne was a Gazette-Star All-County Defensive Team selection last fall after registering 125 tackles and 18 1/2 sacks. Darby was an Offensive First Team pick as an all-purpose player after amassing 1,770 yards of total offense. Darby also was the Gazette-Star Boys' Track Runner of the Year this past spring after recording the fastest times across all four classifications at the state championship meet in the 100 and 200 meters.

Potomac's entire starting offensive line from last fall is slated to return this year, making the Wolverines an early favorite to make a long playoff run.

"I can't leave the program in a better spot," Davidson said. "I set the table the best way I could. I haven't left anything unfinished with the exception of coaching the team. But for my family, I felt like I couldn't put off the opportunity and wait around for the next big thing. I don't know if I'm ever going to have another opportunity to be an assistant AD without prior experience, and Hatteras Island is a great setting for my family."