Orangeburg Consolidated District Five will apparently look toward a former and current employee to fill two of its three head football coaching vacancies this fall.

Following an executive session, the school board voted unanimously at Tuesday's meeting to tender a contract offer to Willie E. "Tony" Felder to coach varsity football at Orangeburg-Wilkinson. They also voted to offer former O-W head coach and school Athletics Director Tommy Brown the head football coaching job at Bowman and John Jones a similar position at North.

Brown, who posted a 70-61 record in 11 seasons at O-W, would replace Samuel Pough at Bowman. Pough went 6-16 after coming over from North two years ago.

The same is true of Jones should he agree to accept the job at North, replacing Tadgh Weed, who went 1-18 in two seasons at the helm.

The district will need to receive a notification of acceptance of the contract offers from the prospective coaches being making its hirings official. Upon receiving word about the job offer, an enthusiastic Felder wasted little time making his decision.

"This is the job I kind of wanted," he said. "This was the job I was wanting from the (get go). Orangeburg-Wilkinson is the only job ... I wanted."

Felder just completed a five-year stint at Benedict College, posting a 21-32 record before he was fired last November. This is Felder's third high school coaching stint in The T&D Region, where he was named Coach of the Year on two occasions and amassed a majority of his 71 high school victories.

A former fullback and teammate of Brown at South Carolina State University, Felder started at North, where he led the Eagles to a region championship and brought them two games shy of playing for the Class A state championship. He also coached former All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and current Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay defensive lineman Chartric Darby and led North to success it did not enjoy again until seven years later when Pough led the program to the first of two straight second-round playoff appearances.

Felder's magic touch continued when he moved to Calhoun County in 1992. He made the playoffs all four seasons of his tenure en route to posting a 31-14 record.

In 1997, Felder arrived at Fairfield Central to replace Oliver "Buddy" Pough, who left after leading the Griffins to a 15-0 record and state Class 3-A championship to take the running backs' coach position at the University of South Carolina. In his lone season at the helm, Felder guided Fairfield Central to a second straight 15-0 season and Class 3-A championship.

A year later, Felder was on the move again. This time, he took over the Benedict football program and led the Tigers to a 5-5 record in 1999. It was the program's first non-losing season since the school revived football in 1995. Benedict never surpassed the .500 mark during Felder's tenure, finishing 2-9 this past season in its inaugural campaign back in the Southeastern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. One of those losses was a 51-7 rout in the "Palmetto Capitol City Classic" at the hands of his alma mater, now coached by Pough.

Despite winning just one region title in 1995 during his tenure, Brown earned statewide respect for the caliber of players he's coached into the college and pro ranks. The vast list of talent includes:
-- Quarterbacks Woodrow Dantzler (Clemson University and the Dallas Cowboys),
James Murdaugh (Elon University) and Russell Hemby (Western Carolina);
-- Defensive backs Arturo Freeman (USC and Miami Dolphins), Maurice "Mo"
Kelly (Seattle Seahawks), Deveron Harper (formerly of the Carolina Panthers);
Tim Jennings (Georgia), Kevin Johnson and Ryan Hemby (formerly and currently at
Clemson University);
-- Linemen Alex Barron (Florida State), Jonas Seawright (North Carolina),
Corey Haynes and Joe Dickson (both of South Carolina State);
-- Linebackers Rahim El-Amin (formerly of East Tennessee State), Derrick
Butler (Georgia Southern) and Derek Harrison (formerly of SCSU);
-- Wide receivers Jackie Robinson (formerly of Clemson) and Marc Smiley
(SCSU)

The Bruins have struggled the past two seasons, winning just four games each in 2001 and 2002. This past season, O-W finished 4-6 overall, 1-4 in Region 4-AAAA and missed the playoffs for the first time under Brown.

Should Jones accept the Mohawks' job, he takes over a program which has made the Class A playoffs 16 straight years. However, Bowman has posted records of 4-7 and 2-9 the past two seasons since winning the region title in 2000.