T.C. Guyer, the new head football coach for the Tsalagi Anitsvyasdi (Cherokee Braves) is shown at Ray Kinsland Stadium in Cherokee, N.C. on the morning of Wednesday, June 17. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On a cooler-than-usual late spring morning, the sounds of football could be heard from Ray Kinsland Stadium. The Tsalagi Anitsvyasdi (Cherokee Braves) were going through warm-ups and position drills – gearing up for the 2026 campaign under a new head coach, T.C. Guyer.
He said the decision to come here was easy. “I believe in what could be here,” he noted. “The community support is unmatched, really versus anywhere else.”
Coach Guyer said he is all about working together to build a program. “We’re trying to build this thing into where we are mentioned with Swain and Murphy and Robbinsville every year, like I believe this school should be.
The team is shown coming to the center of Ray Kinsland Stadium during a practice on the morning of Wednesday, June 17.
There hasn’t been a lot of consistency here, and that’s what we’re looking to establish with these coaches here and myself, just bringing consistency to these guys so they know from varsity down to the pups in youth league what they’re running, who their coaches are, and what they can expect when they keep climbing up in the levels.”
Coach Guyer, his staff, and the players are working diligently to build that consistency. “Our seniors are now in their fourth offensive and defensive scheme since they’ve been in high school. It’s hard to keep good quality teams when you’re changing schemes every year. The biggest challenge right now is we’re trying to install our systems, trying to install our beliefs, work a little bit of the bad habits out of them. Not to knock on previous guys, but with a lot of change comes a lot of bad habits that tend to develop. So, just trying to work that out of them.”
A graduate of Pisgah High School, Coach Guyer went on to play football at Mars Hill University where he graduated in 2015 with a degree in health and physical education.
His first coaching job was as head football coach and head baseball coach at Douglas Byrd Middle School in Fayetteville, N.C. in August 2015. He went on to several schools over the next decade including: Avery County High School in Newland, N.C. where he was assistant head coach; Coffee County Central High School in Manchester, Tenn. where he was a secondary coach; Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. where he was co-defensive coordinator; and David Emanuel Academy in Swainsboro, Ga. where he was head football coach.
He is very complimentary of the players and their work ethic. “They have taken the challenge by the horns. They’re eager. They’re ready to learn. We’re averaging about 60 kids a day, which is amazing for a school this size.”
Coach Guyer said there are many strengths to this squad. “We have a great group of offensive line and Coach Maney and Coach Bynum are doing a great job with those guys. Our receivers, our skill guys, are deep. We are very deep in that aspect. We’ve got some good senior leaders in guys like Dawson Panther and Kingston Welch, Noah Watty, Draylen Ledford, and Zaynon Taylor – guys like those who have been here and they want to see it be better than what it is. And, that young group is hungry. The JV group last year I think they lost one game. They know what winning tastes like and they like the taste of that, so they want to continue to experience that.”
Coach Guyer gives instructions for a drill during Wednesday morning’s practice.
He added, “Defensively, we’re going to base out of a 4-3…the biggest thing we’re going to try to do is keep it simple for our guys to fly around. I’m a firm believer that if it’s simple, guys don’t have to think, we can fly around and make plays. And, we have the guys that can do that. Offensively, we’re evolving into meshing kind of two systems together – a gun system and a run-heavy wing T type system. So, we’re going to utilize our strengths. We’re going to utilize our run game and our offensive line. Then, when teams start keying in on that, we’ve got the guys on the outside that we can take advantage of that also. So, a lot of give and take. A lot of moving pieces around just to kind of get the look we want and really take advantage of what the defense gives us.”
Coach Guyer loves the community of Cherokee and the community’s passion. “It really means a lot to me. Growing up over the mountain in Canton, you get a community feel over there going to Pisgah High School. And, you know about Cherokee, but I tell everybody since I’ve been here, you don’t really know. You don’t really know how special of a place this is.
At 35 years old, this is almost a pipe dream for me to be able to take this program that represents so much more than just a town and really take it and make it my own, in a sense, but still trying to honor everything that it represents.”
He understands that in Cherokee, football means much more than football. “I’ve really just been trying to learn and soak up as much as I can because I want to do right by this, the people here, the community here, and everything that this school represents. I tell these kids every day, they’re lucky. Every coach in America says, ‘you go out and play for something bigger than yourself’. These kids actually have the ability to play for something bigger than themselves. That’s our goal with this team this year, and as long as I’m here, is to make sure every Friday night, win or lose, we are honoring everything that this community stands for.”
