Justin Roberson is no longer the interim head football coach at Perquimans.

He is the ex-head football coach at Perquimans.

Roberson, who accepted the head coaching position one day before the start of preseason practice last July after T.J. Worrell unexpectedly stepped down, is also the head baseball coach at Perquimans. He said wearing two hats was not going to work to his satisfaction and led to his resignation as football coach.

“I really enjoyed being the football coach and when my principal (Chante’ Jordan) asked me awhile ago if I was planning to be the football coach next year I said , ‘Yeah,’ ” he said. “But the more I thought about it, as much time as I put into baseball and all the preaseason work that we do, I realized I’m cheating the football program if I’m not doing the same things for them as I do for baseball.

“Other football coaches are already doing their offseason work and I can’t. It’s not fair to the kids. I’m not saying you can’t do both because some people do it. But for me, when you put your name on somethng and say ‘I’m going to be the head coach of this,’ everything that revolves around that team reflects on you.

“You have to give every amount of time you can give into making a program successful. If you try to do both teams, one of them has to suffer. Not intentionally, it’s just what’s going to happen because you can’t give them the same amount of time.”

Roberson, who guided Perquimans to the Four Rivers Conference baseball title last spring in his first season as head coach, said his decision to resign had nothing to do with the fact that the Pirates football team went 0-11 last fall.

“It wasn’t about winning or losing,” Roberson said. “I think we’re stepping into a pretty good position next year, We didn’t graduate that many kids and we’re moving into a different conference where the strength of schedule is not going to be what it was.”

Even though he believed he was making a logical decision, Roberson said it was difficult to tell the football players. He asked Jordan if he could meet with them before any announcment was made.

“That was tough to do,” he said. “A lot of those kids did everything I asked them to do while I was there. And now this will be their third head coach in three years. And that’s not really fair to the kids, either. But this is what is best for the program and my family.”

Roberson said he will stay on as an assistant football coach if needed. He was an assistant at Perquimans for one year before taking the head job and prior to that he was the offensive coordinator at Edenton for several years.

“I have every intention in helping in whatever capacity the new guys needs and I told the kids that, too,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. I will still be on the sidelines with them.”

Roberson said it is unlikely that he will ever be the head football coach again, mostly because he already has his dream job.

“In the future I plan on being the head baseball coach at Perquimans County High School and nowhere else,” said Roberson, who played baseball and football at Perquimans. “When I graduated college this is what I wanted.

“I’m happy to be here. I love football, but if I’m going to be a head coach, it’s going to be in baseball.”