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GREENSBORO — An assistant coach on Northern Guilford High School’s two consecutive state championship football teams is facing felony charges of trafficking cocaine.

Palmer Lee “J.R.” Troutman Jr., 41, was arrested Friday at 6305 High View Road on two charges of trafficking in cocaine and maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for controlled substances, according to police records. It is unclear when the alleged offenses took place. He was released from the Guilford County jail after posting a $10,000 bond later that night.

“It’s a tough situation,” Northern Guilford principal Will Laine said. “He’s been around our young players and we really had no indication that anything was going on that would have been out of the ordinary. ... It was quite a shock to us.”

Troutman was on Northern Guilford’s sideline, in the locker room and around the student-athletes since the high school opened in 2007.
His arrest did not occur on school grounds or involve students, said Guilford County Schools communications coordinator Lillian Govus.

Troutman was not a faculty member or a staff member at Northern Guilford and the school district will not renew Troutman’s coaching contract in the future, Govus said. Assistant coaching contracts last the duration of the athletic season, with Troutman’s contract expiring Nov. 30. He is not known to have been on campus since that time.

Troutman and another assistant coach resigned from Grimsley on the same day in 2007, after the school put the program on probation for “issues surrounding structure, organization and communication” and the head coach stepped down. Both assistant coaches wound up at Northern, but are no longer there.

Northern head football coach Johnny Roscoe, who has guided the program to a 58-8 record since its inception, did not return messages left on both of his cell phones and his home phone.

Roscoe was calling his players’ parents to inform them of Troutman’s arrest.

More than a half dozen Northern parents contacted by the News & Record declined to comment, did not return a message seeking comment or did not wish to be identified in print.

“Who would suspect that kind of stuff?” asked the mother of one Northern player. “(Troutman has) always been a good coach, taking care of the kids. It’s a shame. I just got a phone call from Coach Roscoe, as well. He’s very disappointed about the whole thing. He’s a very caring coach … and he has all the respect of all the parents and kids. He personally called everybody and told us about the situation, and just to be aware of what’s going on…

“This is not by any means a small, little offense. This is a big deal.”

Laine, the Northern principal, said that background checks are conducted on all of the school’s coaches prior to them being hired.

“It came as a surprise to everyone that he would even be associated with anything like this,” Laine said. “We had no idea. … We want to make sure that we have the right kind of people around our young people.”

Troutman reportedly did not have any previous felony charges, but was charged once with misdemeanor trespassing in 1997.

“I already heard he’s out on bail. So he may get in touch with the kids. Who knows?” the parent of a Northern football player said. “I think it would be fine. I’m talking about the seniors. These guys are already 18 years old and know good from bad. They know he did wrong. But I don’t think they’ll treat him any differently. … In my mind, he was a good coach, he didn’t sell stuff in the school, and this is his personal problem. Nobody knew.”

Contact Jason Wolf at 373-7034 or jason.wolf@news-record.com

Staff writer Dioni L. Wise contributed to this report.