Farmer Named Avery County High School Head Football Coach

By Tim Gardner

Ethan Farmer has been named by the Avery County Board of Education as the new head football coach at Avery County High School.

He served as an assistant at Avery High, coaching the defensive line in 2021, before being elevated to the head coaching post. 

Farmer replaces Mac Bryan, who compiled a 10-29 record at Avery from 2018 through 2021. That includes a 1-10 mark during the 2021 season.

Avery County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Brigman said of Farmer and his promotion: “Coach Farmer is an outstanding individual, athlete, coach and mentor. He has proven to be a student-centered leader who puts the best interest of the student in the forefront of all decisions.  We (Avery County Public Schools) are very fortunate to have him on staff and for his willingness to step into the head football coach role.  I feel confident our athletes will benefit from his outstanding leadership as he strives to move our football program forward.”

Farmer played football collegiately at the University of North Carolina.  He emerged as a standout defensive tackle in his senior season (2014), earning honorable mention All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) accolades after posting career highs of 43 tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He started all 13 games as a Tar Heel junior (2013) after emerging as a starter at defensive tackle. 

Farmer appeared in five games as a reserve defensive lineman and on special teams his redshirt freshman season of 2011 and all 12 games as a UNC sophomore (2012).

After college he was with the National Football League’s (NFL) Seattle Seahawks for rookie camp. Farmer then played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as well as on the Carolina Cobras, Carolina Havoc and High Country Grizzlies arena league teams.

A Tabor City, NC native, Farmer was a SuperPrep All-American player as a defensive end at South Columbus High School. He was considered the 5th best player in North Carolina by SuperPrep publication and the 6th best collegiate prospect in North Carolina by the Charlotte Observer newspaper. Offensively, he was rated as the 12th best tight end among all seniors across the nation in high school football by Rivals.com. 

Farmer played on North Carolina’s 2010 Shrine Bowl Team in its annual all-star game versus South Carolina’s top senior prep players. 

Farmer is 29 years old. He was born on July 3, 1992. He earned a bachelor’s degree at UNC in the double major of African and Afro-American studies and communication studies.

Photographs Courtesy of University of North Carolina Athletics Department.