Shane Timmons coached Randleman’s football team into the state playoffs regularly. (Thadd Sanders / Randolph Record)
RANDLEMAN – Shane Timmons has stepped away from his job as football coach at Randleman after five seasons, citing family obligations.
His young daughter, Ophie, was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 and her ongoing care was central to Timmons’ decision.
“Time is an extremely valuable commodity for all of us. I need to spend it at home,” Timmons wrote on social media. “Ophie’s odds of recurrence remain 50% for the duration of her life.”
Timmons has been in various roles at Randleman since 2008.
“My family experienced the trauma of a cancer diagnosis, surgeries, radiation, neurological deficits due to radiation, and the stress of a coaching schedule on a family already under one of the heaviest weights life can throw at you,” Timmons wrote. “We decided to enter the 2024 season and give it our all. My wife held our home together while I took care of the team. Every moment I wasn’t coaching, we cared for each other.”
In 2023, Timmons took a leave of absence from the team, which was 5-0 at the time, because Ophie was in Tennessee for treatments. She has been dealing with a brain tumor.
The coach returned to a full-time role this season, which began with eight consecutive victories. The Tigers lost three of their final four games to finish with a 9-3 record. They were ousted in the second round of the Class 2A state playoffs with a home loss for the second year in a row.
“We fought as hard as possible to make this season happen,” Timmons wrote. “I talk about priorities with the boys all the time. Don’t have them if you don’t live by them. Right now, I need to coach the team inside the walls of my home.”
The resignation as football coach was painful, according to Timmons’ statement.
“There is no greater way to impact the next generation than being a coach,” Timmons wrote. “My time as head coach ended and it hurts. I’m glad for the hurt. That means the work meant something.”
In many ways, Timmons pointed out that he sought to set an example as it relates to
“The success of our students off the field or court always sustained me during those years,” Timmons wrote. “I have grown to understand using competition and sport to bring kids together for something bigger than themselves.”
Randleman’s five-year record under Timmons was 37-17. The team won a conference championship in the spring 2021 season, going 7-1 in that pandemic-shortened season.
The Tigers’ best record in the past five seasons was the 10-2 mark in 2023.
Randleman has finished second to Eastern Randolph in the Piedmont Athletic Conference in each of the past three seasons.
