Doug Coats

At just 25 years old, Derrin Little was hired as the head football coach for Chatham Central High School in July 2023. On his first day of workouts that summer there were eight people on the field. Little, another coach, and six players. Chatham Central went 0-11 that season. The Bears improved to 1-10 in 2024 and kept that record in 2025 after defeating Graham — a program that didn’t even field a team this year — in the season-opener before dropping 10 straight to end the campaign. But in Year 4 under Little, things have been different for him and the Bears. After beginning his tenure with a 2-31 record through three seasons, Chatham Central once again ended a regular season with the number 10 as part of its record. Only this time — it came before the hyphen. Chatham Central football closed the 2026 regular season with a 10-0 record just one year after going 1-10. The Bears won the Greater Triad 1A/2A Conference with a 6-0 run to claim the program’s first-ever conference championship in its 60+ years of existence. It is the most wins in program history, and needless to say, the first undefeated regular season. “Knowing the history of this program,” Little said after clinching the conference championship. “Knowing my history since I've been here. To say that we're getting ready to hang up any kind of banner in the gym, it's an amazing feeling.” ------------------------------------ HSOT Insiders can read the rest of Ben McCormick's feature on Chatham Central football at highschoolot.com/news/footba…