Meet Travis Noland! Coach Noland is married to his wife, Julie, and they have three boys. He is from the mountains of Western North Carolina where he grew up in the paper mill town of Canton and lived there until he graduated from college. Life in Canton was pretty simple. People knew everyone, were hard-working, and most jobs revolved around the paper mill. Coach Noland went to Appalachian State College and played football. He is the head football coach at Jefferson High School.
It was a pleasure getting to sit down and talk with Coach Noland. I immediately realized we were kindred spirits in our love of the outdoors. I want to thank him for sharing a little more about himself and what he loves about our community~John Canupp
Question: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
Answer: “My wife, Julie, and I have been married for 30 years. We met at Appalachian State during college. She works at the Georgia Department of Education. We have three boys. Zeb is 25 and is involved in college coaching, Abe is 24 and is a project manager for a construction company, and Ben is 21 and plays college football in South Dakota.”
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
A: “I always loved football, and in my senior year of high school, I didn’t get to play, because I had ACL surgery. I will never forget, one summer day I was sitting outside our fieldhouse that was on a hill overlooking the town, looking right at the paper mill. My head coach asked me what I was going to do after college. I said I was going to play college football, and he asked me about my plans after that. I told him I had always wanted to be a coach, and I’ll never forget his next words. He said, ‘Let me give you some advice. If you think you can live a fulfilled life without the game of football, don’t go into coaching. But, if you feel like you need football to be fulfilled for the rest of your life, I suggest you pursue coaching.’
At Appalachian State, I played for a Hall of Fame Coach, Jerry Moore. We were sitting on a bench, and he was trying to get me to go into college coaching. I told Coach Moore that I didn’t know if I wanted to do that, and when he asked me why not, I said, ‘I could work my whole career and never be one day closer to being a head coach than the day I started, and I think I really want to be a head coach.’ He said, ‘You will always know the state of your program by how much people want to be around. If there are always people running out, there’s something in your program that you need to evaluate.’ These two gentlemen and their conversations resonated and stuck with me that I was on the right track regarding what I wanted to do. I got into coaching and have been doing it ever since.
I have been teaching for 30 years, twelve in North Carolina and eighteen in Georgia. I’ve been a head coach for almost 25 of those 30 years. I love the relationships with kids and the comradery of being a part of a coaching staff. I have no desire to retire yet. When you’re in education, you’re in a profession where there is a common interest of everybody that’s associated. I would have a hard time working in another field with people who do not have a common interest and feel like it’s only a job. The people and the kids keep me invigorated.”
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
A: “Friends is my go-to. I love their wings. I also really like the Twenty7 Grill at Traditions and Talmo Grill.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
A: “I have been coaching at Jefferson High School for one year, but I moved here in October 2022.”
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
A: “The Jackson County Sheriff, Janis Mangum.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “I would go fly fishing in Montana or Wyoming. Maybe Jackson Hole. It’s my favorite just to visit. The draw is the great fly fishing.”
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
A: “Lonesome Dove. It has some of the greatest quotes, one-liners, and actors.”
Q: What advice would you give to people?
A: “I usually don’t give advice. My dad always said, ‘A big mouth doesn’t make a big man.’ Later in life, I found out that was a John Wayne quote. When you grew up in the mountains, people usually stayed in their own business and didn’t always have an opinion or offer advice. But after working in education for 30 years, you see so many highs and lows happening to kids. After seeing these things, the advice I have is for parents. You need to prepare your child for the path rather than preparing the path for the child. You never know how quickly plans and other things can change. The kids I have seen prepared for the path can handle changes better. The time we have with our kids is fragile. We think they are going to be our kids forever, and then it’s gone. Then, we look back at all the time we missed worrying about the things that didn’t matter.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “I probably won’t get to do it but just to travel (to Europe and places in the U.S.).”
Q: What is your go-to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
A: “Michael W. Smith. I can listen to him every day.”
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
A: “Mitchell Hardware. They have been good to me and the football program. Tabo’s. Amyn Meghani cares about the community and has helped tremendously upgrade our football locker room. Scott McKinney has been a great business partner and has also helped enormously with our locker room facility.”
Q: If you could choose anyone alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
A: “I would have lunch with my former college football coach, Jerry Moore. I would love to spend a few hours of his time catching up, and we would go to Talmo Grill. Outside of my dad, he was by far the most influential man in my life.”
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
A: “The people here are different. How do you explain what different is… I don’t know. There is just a sense of acceptance. That is hard to find in some places, especially when you are new. There is a sense of family here that’s not necessarily everywhere. There is a sense of pride that you can feel everywhere you go in the county. Everyone is just proud of where they are from and where they live. It reminds me of home.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
A: “I hope right here. I know coaches say that all the time, but this is where I hope to be.”
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: “How much I love the outdoors, especially fly fishing. It’s where I am in a place of peace. Peace can be hard to find in life sometimes.”
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
A: “Cataloochee National Forest (Palmer Creek). It’s a place where almost every major decision in my life I’ve gone back, done a lot of thinking, and found answers to questions.”
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and the best single day on the calendar?
A: “December (Playing in State Championships and I love Christmas.). Christmas. Christmas Day.”
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
A: “A good day with my family. It doesn’t matter where as long as we are together.”
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
A: “My wife, Julie. She is very honest with me, good or bad. She is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. She holds herself to high standards, and we have always fed off of each other in that respect. We both encourage one another but also try to get the other to slow down when needed. She has a huge drive in what she does, which lets her understand my drive. My sons have also inspired me to want to be the best man I can be. I have always wanted to be a dad and be there for my sons. The one thing I never held back from them was my time. I wanted others to see I held my sons to the same expectations, no more, no less than I did everyone else. I wanted to be the kind of man coaching your son that I wanted to coach my sons, and I also wanted to be an example of a father to the kids that didn’t have fathers.”
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
A: “A campfire and a good stream.”
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
A: Simple. Secure. Loving.
