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Stonewall hires football coach

By Robert Daski

Published: May 7, 2008

When Michael Dougherty stepped down in December as Dominion High School’s head football coach, he was content with whatever direction his coaching career would take from that point on. If he was to become an assistant some place, fine. Not coach at all. That was OK as well.
Dougherty still sent out resumes and was in the hunt for a number of jobs. He was offered a head coaching job at a Richmond-area high school he declined to name. He was also a finalist for head coaching opportunities at Charlottesville, Gar-Field and James Wood high schools.
But when things didn’t work out on those fronts, he remained upbeat.
“I wasn’t going to press and something great turns out because of it,” Dougherty said.
That opportunity came in the form of the head coaching job at Stonewall Jackson, which the 37-year-old Dougherty accepted on Monday. He replaces Loren Johnson, who stepped down after five seasons and recently accepted the job as the head football coach at Highland Springs.
Dougherty was one of over 20 applicants for the job and one of five finalists, according to Stonewall princi-pal Richard Nichols. Dougherty was also the only one of the five finalists with head football coaching experi-ence, a factor that worked in his favor in getting the job.
“He has a passion for working with students at this level,” Nichols said. “He seemed the best fit for the di-rection we want to go.”
Dougherty was an assistant at Louisa High School for five years before taking over as the head coach at Prince Edward. He was there for three years, compiling a 14-16 record for a program that moved from Group A to Group AA during his time there.
From Prince Edward, Dougherty was hired as Dominion’s first-ever head football coach when the school opened in 2003 in Sterling. Over five years, the Group AA Titans compiled a 13-36 record, including a 2-8 mark in 2007.
“It was time for a change,” Dougherty said. “There was not one person or one thing. It was time to look into other opportunities and put resumes out. The opening at Stonewall made sense.”
Dougherty said the position at Stonewall appealed to him for two primary reasons. One, it would keep his family from having to move right away from their home in Leesburg. That was one of the reasons along with the slumping housing market and having to take a pay cut that kept Dougherty from heading to Richmond.
Dougherty also liked Stonewall’s talent base. The Raiders’ top returning player is junior running back/defensive back Damien Thigpen, who has already committed to Tennessee.
“Coach Johnson set something up here where I won’t have to come in and rebuild,” Dougherty said.

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