Cummings High Names Western Alamance Alum Darius Pinnix Jr. Head Football Coach

Cummings High School has named Darius Pinnix Jr. its new head football coach, bringing the 26-year-old Western Alamance graduate back to Alamance County after stints coaching at Tiffin University and Gardner-Webb.

Pinnix becomes the third person in charge of the Cummings program in less than 10 months. David Grimm was fired in late May, Terrance Alford stepped in as interim coach in June, and the Cavaliers finished 2025 with a 3-8 record. Alford, a former Cummings player and assistant coach, applied for the permanent job but was not given an offer; he said he expects to coach as an assistant at another school in 2026.

The hire is Pinnix's first assignment at the high school level. He spent the past two years as running backs coach at Gardner-Webb before a December coaching change in Boiling Springs ended his tenure there. Before that, he served on the Tiffin University coaching staff in 2023.

"I always wanted to be a head coach," Pinnix said. "I didn't know it would come this soon. I saw the opportunity and took off with it."

His connection to the program runs deeper than geography. Pinnix said family members attended Cummings, and some of his earliest football memories are tied to the school's campus, where his Air Cavs youth league games were played. He said he plans to draw on that shared experience when working with the Cavaliers.

"I was in their shoes coming out of middle school and in high school," he said.

Pinnix graduated from Western Alamance in 2017 as one of the more decorated running backs in the Warriors' recent history. Playing for coach Jeff Snuffer, he rushed for 2,068 yards and 40 touchdowns and caught 162 passes for 2,793 yards and 28 scores across his prep career, averaging 6.7 yards per carry on 307 attempts as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was a three-time All-Mid-State 3A All-Conference and Greensboro News & Record All-Region selection, earned all-area honors in 2015 and 2016, and added all-state recognition after his senior season. As a senior, he helped Western Alamance go 11-3 with a 7-1 conference record and playoff wins over Southern Durham, 21-16, and Cleveland, 51-26, rushing for 426 yards and 14 touchdowns on 73 playoff carries.

From Western, Pinnix went to East Carolina, where he avoided a redshirt year as a true freshman after impressing coaches in the preseason. He started six of 12 games in 2017, finishing second on the team with 229 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He played four seasons total at ECU before using two remaining seasons of eligibility at Division II Tiffin in Ohio.

ECU originally recruited Pinnix to play linebacker. "They offered me as an inside linebacker," he said at the time. "Then they came to watch me play. As soon as they saw me running the ball, they told me I'd be a running back."

At Cummings, Pinnix said he intends to be more than a position-specific coach. "I'm not just (in charge of) one position," he said. "I'll be involved with offense and defense, trying to build a culture." He added that he expects to take on a daytime job assignment at the school, with the specifics still being worked out. "I want to be around these kids as much as possible. It's a super, great opportunity. It will be good to really get to know everybody."

Snuffer, who coached both Pinnix and his father Darius "Boody" Pinnix Sr. at Western Alamance, has long spoken to the family's deep roots in local football. Darius Sr., who wore No. 40 as a Warrior, died at age 41 in 2017 while his son was playing at ECU. Pinnix Jr. wore No. 40 that season in his father's memory. Snuffer called Pinnix "a relentless competitor" whose drive revealed itself long before he ever played a varsity down.