When John Houpt was beginning his coaching career, all he wanted was to be a Bluffton Bobcat.
Houpt applied for a teaching and coaching position at Bluffton High School when it opened in 2004, but he didn’t make the cut. He didn’t accept defeat, returning three years later to begin a 14-year run that culminated with five seasons as the Bobcats’ head coach.
That era came to a close Tuesday, as Houpt announced his resignation as Bluffton’s head football coach.
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“I have been fortunate to be a Bobcat for the past 14 years,” Houpt said in a statement. “No matter the title I held, my goals were to help mold these young men and women into fine human beings and create an inner drive in them to be successful at whatever they chose to do.”
Houpt joined the Bobcats’ coaching staff in 2007 as an assistant under Jeremy West, and he was the defensive coordinator under Ken Cribb during a dominant run from 2010-16, when Bluffton posted 12 or more wins four times in seven seasons and reached the Class 3A state finals in 2011. When Cribb left to take over at Wayne County (Ga.) in 2017, his top assistant was elevated to the head role and tasked with seeing the program through the difficult stretch that typically follows a school split.
The Bobcats went 6-5 and 5-5 in Houpt’s first two seasons at the helm, qualifying for the playoffs each season and winning a first-round game in 2017, but they stumbled to a 3-21 record over the past three campaigns as the balance of high school football power in Bluffton shifted across town to May River.
Bluffton showed signs of promise early in the 2021 season, putting together a remarkable second-half rally to beat three-time defending SCISA 1A champion Thomas Heyward in overtime for the Bobcats’ first victory since 2019, then pushing Class 2A contender Wade Hampton to overtime in a home loss and scoring 49 points in the second half of a comeback win at Colleton County. But the Bobcats slumped down the stretch, losing their last five games, including a 31-12 defeat at North Augusta in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Houpt made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, prompting replies and retweets from a flood of current and former players thanking him and wishing him well.
“I will always cherish every moment with Bobcat Nation, from the times when we were picking up trash late at night on spring break to the times when we were region champions,” Houpt said. “The times I cherish most will be when the team brought in donations for Thanksgiving, helped worked Easter Day for the kids at Eagles Field, and sponsored kids in need for the Bobcat Angel Tree. I hope that all the players that have been a part of my life know that you have been just as impactful on me as I hope I was for you.”
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