If anybody epitomizes being at home in his element, it would be Dan Essenberg inside a high school football locker room.

Never mind the fact that it’s been 12 years since his last head coaching job or 23 years since he last donned the orange-and-black for the Rosman Tigers.

On this lazy Tuesday afternoon, as he goes over locker assignments with a pair of assistant coaches, it’s as if he never left.

Before he stepped down as Brevard’s head coach following a 10-year run in 2007, Essenberg had logged just shy of 30 years on the sidelines between Transylvania County’s two high schoo...