T.C. Williams High School Announces New Head Football Coach

PHOTO: TC Principal Jesse Dingle and new head football Coach James Longerbeam. Photo courtesy of ACPS

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ALEXANDRIA, VA -- T.C. Williams High School has announced the appointment of a new head football coach.

James Longerbeam, who will be moving from Panama City, Fla. for the role, will start as head coach at T.C. Williams on Feb. 16, according to a news release from the school system. Longerbeam previously taught at Bay High School in Panama City, where he led the Bay High football team to an 8–3 record and Bay County Champions. He was recently named 2015 Panhandle Coach of the Year.

“T.C. has a long and important history of athletic success and our football team is particularly important to us as it has helped to give T.C. its reputation. We are very excited to welcome Coach Longerbeam and hope he will be very happy with us. We wish him every success,” said Athletic Director Steve Colantuoni.

Longerbeam has experience rebuilding football teams, the school system pointed out in its news release Tuesday. When he took over the program at Bay High School he was the third coach in four years and the team had not had a winning season since 2004. Prior to Bay High School, he coached at Loris high School in South Carolina, which had not had a winning season in more than a decade. By his fourth season, they had back-to-back winning seasons. They also made the playoffs and were the district runner-ups.

“My coaching philosophy is building the program from the bottom up. I believe in establishing relationships with local leagues, middle school feeder programs as well as at the high school level. My firm belief is that players have to work constantly to get bigger, faster and stronger. However, while I want our students to succeed out on the field, they have to be students first,” said Longerbeam.

Mr. Longerbeam will be joining the T.C. Williams staff as a Special Education teacher. He will be in the T.C. Williams Rotunda on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. for a “meet and greet” session.

“I’m extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Longerbeam to the T.C. family. He has a great resume both in terms of student achievement and sporting achievement,” said T.C. Principal Jesse Dingle.

T.C Williams’ program won state titles in 1971, 1984 and 1987, but also experienced a 22-year postseason drought. The Titans made the playoffs in 2013 for the first time in more than two decades, but followed the historic season with a 2-8 record the following year.

T.C. Williams High School will be honoring former Titans coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast and their assistant coach, Glenn Furman, who helped the team win the 1971 State Championships, at the ACPS Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at T.C. Williams Friday, Feb. 12.