279. Georgia New Hires, Part 2: Stowe, Montgomery, Vavra

This summer, we are talking to some of the new Head Football Coach hires in the state of Georgia for 2025.  

This episode has interviews with:

• Rob Stowe, new Head Coach at Union Co.
• Justin Montgomery, new Head Coach at Jones Co.
• Brett Vavra, new Head Coach at Etowah

Episode Transcript

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(00:52):
is sid services dot com. Everybody, Welcome to the Parker
Resource Podcast. We've got the Summer of Georgia New Hires
series going on now and excited to talk to some
of George's new head coaches and get their perspective on
how the transition is going, what they like, what they

(01:13):
don't like, what's got improved. It's been great so far.
So today we've got three more new head coach in
the state of Georgia. We've got coach Rob Stowe at
Union County. Coach Stowe had a great run at Willcox,
now up in Union County, up in the mountains, excited
to talk to him. We got coach Justin Montgomery at
Jones County. Coach Montgomery get his first head job after

(01:34):
coming off a very successful run as a deep sporter
in Carrollton. And coach Brett Bavra to coach at Edawa
coming off of a great historic season at Spraybury when
he was the head coach. Who's over to Edawa. Excited
to talk to him as well. So it should be
three good interviews before it all with all they have
to say, I hope you enjoy it versus Doc. Now alright,

(02:00):
please be joined this time by coach Robstowe, the new
coach at Union County, up here in the mountains with me.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Coach.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Thanks for joining me, Hey, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Chris.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
I'm excited to be here, like you said, excited to
be back in the mountains and around a lot of
good people up here. And thank you for bringing me back.
I figured after the last time you may not everyone
talk to me again.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Oh, man, man, come on.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
So people that don't know you, they just know you
were to coach will Cox and he had a good
run there.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
But you've been in the mountains before.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Man, you want our people, So tell anybody that doesn't
know kind of where you've been and how you got
to here.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Right well out of college, my high school football coach,
I remember him distinctly calling me, and his name is
Rodney Walker, who a lot of people know, especially people
that have been around high school football in Georgia. He called
me and said, hey, I need you to go up
there and take his job at Gilmour County.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
And I first I was like, how do I get there?

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Coach?

Speaker 3 (02:55):
I don't even know where that is. Anyway, I started
off in l J.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Gilmer County and I spent my first eleven years of
my career there, met my wife, had all three of
my boys were born there and had a you know,
just great time there, and then went on to Raven
County as well, and spending a good long time there
and Stevens Camy, which is a little borderline mountains. But anyway,
that's that's where I spent my career and just the

(03:21):
last six years in Wilcots County. So yeah, I love
waking up every day, Chris, I'll be honest with you
what I see when I wake up in the mountains
and whatnot. And as a coach, Eric Slid, they told
me before I left South Georgia, you said, coach, we
South Georgia coaches. You know, we fight all year long
trying to get up there for one week. You get

(03:42):
to wake up every day and win them mountain cabin.
So it's exciting, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, that's what they say. You know, I'm from the beach,
you know, I'm from Gulf Seorges, Alabama. And that's what
they say, Like, why would you not be there? Well,
with you there all the time, you don't appreciate it,
you know. Now my family goes once a year, right
and then they and then people down there wish they
came up here.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Funny, isn't it. Yeah?

Speaker 1 (04:03):
I think you just always want to be where you're not. Maybe,
but coach, what made I know, other than the mountain thing,
and other than you're familiar at you with the place,
we think something made Union such a great opportunity for you.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Hey, I'll be honest with you.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
A coach, When I heard the job was open, I
called a couple of people and was just asking like,
you know, hey, why why is.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
That job open?

Speaker 4 (04:23):
And when I found out the reasons why, it kind
of opened up a great sense family reasons for coach
Perry and whatnot. I said, Okay, so it's still the
job I think it is, which, you know, I compared
it a lot to when we were at Raven County.
We felt like, you know, Union County had all the
ingredients that we had at Raven County. It was very
similar place as far as the community size, the makeup

(04:46):
of the community, and just felt like, hey, maybe we
can can catch what we did, you know, the fire
in the bottle like we did up at Raven County
and bring it to Blairsville. And I think, you know,
if we can do half of what we were able
to kind of push at Raven County here, it'll be
big things. But you know, that was the main draw,
just knowing the familiarity and what we did at Raven

(05:07):
and feeling like we could probably apply some of those
same things to blairs On.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well. You know, Union County is not that they're not
a program to struggle.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
This is not a place that's They're actually somebody we
looked up to when I first got to Pickings. At
that time, Gilmore had had a good team or two
for a couple of years, but everybody else in the
Mountains except Union wasn't great. And you know, we talked
about fifteen years ago now, but Union County was always
the one that was.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
We didn't play them.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
They're pretty good, bit smaller, but they were always competitive
and Brian Allison was a coach.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Brian did a great job.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
I always looked up to them as somebody that every
when people graduated, like they had the same kids out
there like robots or something. They some graduated and some
more came right behind them, and they just did a
really good job. And some of those guys I think
are still on your staff that have been around then.
But just the receiver is the line, quarterbacks. Some of
the things they did they were spread back then when
nobody was and just when we got the Pickings, we

(06:05):
tried to do some things kind of like them, you know,
just kind of be different up here. And of course
since then you see most every Mountain school doing something
like that. But yeah, I've got a lot of respect
for them. I've been really impressed what they've done over
a twenty year period, you know, And so it's a
good place. And then I'm sure you know your plan
is to take it, you know, to the next thing. Right,

(06:26):
So what have you seen so far that you you
know it's got to improve.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
Well, we just got through the spring practice last week.
I was able to get through that with no injuries.
We scrimmaged Christian artives with coach Barden and got a
lot of information from that. You know, here's the thing
that Union has never done. And like you said, they
have won a ton of games through the years, but
have never really played a lot of both way football,

(06:54):
and we're trying to instill with our kids. Or not
a left tackle or a quarterback or a mic linebacker,
you're a football player first, and we've got to be
prepared to go both ways. So getting that mindset, that
mental toughness because you're going to get tired, has been
a challenge so far. But I've been very impressed with
the kids and they want to impress, they want to do,

(07:16):
they want your favor, and I think they bought into, hey,
we've got to up our game. You can't expect the
same thing and get different results. And you know, our
challenge has been from the beginning day one, is everything
we do and everything we're about is we want to
do something that Union County has never done, and that's
make it past the second round of the playoffs. And

(07:36):
that's a long, rich history of football here. You look
at the win loss records. They've won a lot of games,
but that's one thing they haven't done. So to do that,
we've got to do something different, and we've got to
dig deeper. We've got to, you know, fight a little
bit harder, and we've got to lift weights a little
bit more, you know, the little things, because we become
big things.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
And you know, like you say, everybody, you know, the
guy on the.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Other side line, he's paid to win ball games too,
and those guys want to win, and we know everybody does.
So we've got to pay attention to the details and
really just make Union County a little bit better with
our toughness and our endurance and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
And hopefully that will pay off in the long run.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
But I've been pleased to the spring to see how
hard they've worked, how much effort they've given us, and
just the eagerness.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know that they definitely want to win big uh.
And you know hopefully if the Good.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
Lord shines on us will stay injury free and keep
working and have a chance to win some But you
know that's that's.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
Way out in the future.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
We got we got to clean up a lot of
mistakes right now with simple things, Coach, Like you know,
if I'm the mic linebacker and I'm supposed to open
to the most receiver side, I don't go to the
one receiver side.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Let's go to the three receiver side.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
That we you know that it can be fixed.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I thought it was just maybe maybe a pick is
where we struggled on that. Uh. One is not more
than three.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
That's right, Coach.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
You guys have math problems I see going around. But
that I out faith in you.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Man.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
I'm not trying to put any pressure on you. I'm
trying to what I'm saying in my spill right here
and earlier was you and County is a good place.
It's been a good place. I really think you the
right guy to take it to the next level. And
I've told people that off air. I really do think
that excited for you guys. Ad Mandy Hunter great person,
some good people up there. I'm really excited to see

(09:25):
what y'all can do.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
I really am answer me this.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
So it's your third head coaching job, that's great, more
than me. I had two. So you've had three. Now,
what do you think you'll learn? What do you think
is maybe different? I'm really interested in this. Forget about
the place. Like, you took a job, you took another job,
Now you took a third one.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
What do you learn? What's something this time?

Speaker 1 (09:44):
You're like, I didn't do this right the first two times,
I'm gonna do it right this time.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
That is a great question. That's a million dollar question too,
because you know, sometimes we got to admit some of
our shortcomings to be able to grow and get better.
And you know, when I was the first time go
around as a head coach, I wasn't ready for it.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
I didn't know it then. I thought I knew everything,
quite honestly, but I learned real quick.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
I didn't know jack And just really, what I want
to do now as a head coach is trying to
be you know, more impactful with my staff and helping
them grow and coaching the coaches probably a little bit
more than I have in the past and just and
empower them because I want a coaching staff quite honestly,
that everybody's trying to go up the pecking order, so

(10:30):
to speak, whether it be from a position coach to
a coordinator, a coordinator to a head coach, because I
feel like if everybody's got that kind of ambition, they're
going to give me a great effort as far as
coaching our kids up because they want.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
To have success as well.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
And then things like, you know, just getting to know
the kids a lot better. I have spent since March
first up here going to every single event I can
think of, whether it be a soccer match, a baseball game,
you name it, because I wanted our kids in our
community to see that I'm in funy invested in in
this thing.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
And that's been I.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Think that's I think that's one of the things you learn,
you know, whattly.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Like I think when I was younger, I didn't do
those things. Yeah, like I got to be a part.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Of it, And I don't think you don't do it
on purpose, Like of course I wanted to be a
part of things I did. But I'm saying I think
of things I did the second time I was head coach,
and I remember thinking like three or four different times, like, yeah,
I didn't do that as well last time. I'm gonna
fix that this time. But I think if I took
another job a third time, you would have even more
of those things. And so I think one of them

(11:32):
for me probably is that like I want to be
at the front of the school, fist bumping kids, tell
them good morning, Like I want to be at everything
in town, right, And I think I always wanted to
do that, but I don't know that I saw how
important that is, and I see other people doing it,
and the guys who've been around just kind of realize
how important it is to intentionally be involved with things,

(11:54):
not just kind of showing up because you got some
time or whatever it is. You're intentionally being a part.
I've seen you do it just by following you. I
seen you out and about and something else. I've seen coaches,
your coaching staff. I've seen some good guys. So take
a minute brag on some of these guys. I know
someone real close to you.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
You know what's crazy is half of my staff are
old people like me and meaning that we're around fifty ish. Yeah,
and then the other half under thirty. So we don't
have anybody in between. It's kind of crazy, but I.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Know it's going to shock you, but I'll fit in
that first group.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Here, you coach, I thought she was I thought she
was still about twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
But yeah, get in my mind. Damn. Yeah, Hey, my.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Body is telling me I'm definitely not. I can guarantee
you of that.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
But my offensive coordinator is my oldest son, Jay Stowe.
He's coming to us from White County and it's been
at Hart County and he was with me at Wilcox
his first year. But you know, he's been around a
lot of good offensive mines and playing in high school
at raven and at Stevens with the head coaches we
had there were Lease Shaw and Frank Barton. So just
the molding of all the offensive things that he's been

(12:57):
around has been great. And then my offense line coach.
You know this coach, the offensive line coach is where
you make your hay. Yep, they're the unsung here. Waite
Hodges is a good veteran coach that has a great attitude.
He doesn't care that Jay's basically young enough to be.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
His own son. They get along so well.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
And then I've got two Union guys that are also
on the offensive staff, and I think it's important to
have some of those local guys too, because you know,
they can, for one, help me avoid potholes, you know
of what could come up. But also they're loyal to
this community and they want this school. They played in
this program, they wanted to succeed in. Noah Underwood and
Paul mcbridenan on defense, you got me over there. Wesley Simonson,

(13:42):
who's from Jefferson played at Kennesaw State, is over with
us as well. Young guy defensive line coach of veteran
Todd Pugh has been around a long time.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
I think Todd was at Union before right it was
he was the.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
Head coach here about two thousand and seven eight somewhere
around there. So he's just got back up here and
that's been good. And then my dB coach is somebody
I coached at Raven County, Jeremiah Brown. So that's kind
of cool to have somebody that you know come full circle.
I've got two guys between my son Jay and Jeremiah,
that I've coached, and I guess that tells you how

(14:15):
old I am but it's kind of cool they know
what to expect from you know, kind of crazy that
they're new coaches to me, but yet they know me
enough to feel like they're veterans because they know how
I want things done.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
So that's been cool.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
I've been blessed and got great administration and you already
mentioned Mandy Hunter. The ad is just just the super
ad of trying to provide what we need to win
and great Prince when Josh Davis and superintendent and John
Hill and assist at Superintendent C. T.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
Hush, and they all know that sports is a big part.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Of it because you don't want football to be what
your schools all about. Don't get me wrong, It's still
about educating our kids. But at the same time that
we all know that football is kind of like your
front porch of first thing they see, first thing that
happens in the school year, and if you can get
off to a good start with your football season, it's
crazy how that school year goes well.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Well, you know, because of my role, I know all
these people and I know things, and you kind of
doing a good job in the classroom too, you know,
So what you want to do is be good at
all those things.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
We want to have the best play we want to
have the.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Best CTSO organizations, we want to have best academics. But yeah,
we want to have the best football team too. It's
okay to say that. So and I know those I
know those people you name, and they want those things
and that's what makes it a good place. Coach, I'm
really excited for you. What what do you think's gotta
what's got to happen from now till November. What's gott

(15:42):
to really improve?

Speaker 2 (15:42):
You had?

Speaker 1 (15:43):
You did have the luxury of having some practices, So
what's got to really improve? If you guys have the
season you want to have, you want to get to
that goal in your one or your two, what's really
got to improved?

Speaker 4 (15:52):
I think it's just just had this conversation with those
people who are just mentioned. While ago to our administration
is working towards getting a full ball weight training class,
if you will, where your football guys get in one
period and just really push the pedal down in that
weight room. Because I'm a firm believer that, yeah, you're
building the strength and all that, that's hugely important, but

(16:13):
more important, we're building mental toughness. And if you're waiting
to get mentally tough. When we get them to the
practice field, it's too late. We got to get them
in that weight room and working hard through this summer,
you know. And I think we've got their attention and
they've all responded to what we've asked them so far
through the spring, and I think, you know, it's one
of those what comes first, the chicken or the egg

(16:33):
was success, you know, is you got to tell them that, hey,
hard work is going to bring you success.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
But sometimes they.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Don't work as hard as they see the success is coming.
And you've got to play that balance. So we're gonna
work hard and promising them. You know, it ain't gonna
be easy. I'm not promising you it's gonna be easy.
I'm promising you it's going.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
To be worth it, though, and you'll be able to
look back one day.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
And you know, I tell people all the time, I've
never had a guy that's that's played on a football
team that I've been a coach, as the head coach
or assistant that said twenty years later, man, I totally
regret playing high school football.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
You need plenty that say the opposite.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
They say the opposite So that's what we're trying to
teach them is everything they do right now is intentional.
It's important, the little things, the weight room, how we
even get on a drill. We say, don't touch the line,
get behind the line. You better be behind the line.
Because you make the simple things easy, then the hard
things aren't as difficult as they begin to add up.
So I think it's just changing the work ethic of

(17:32):
trying to ask them to do a little bit more
than they And that's that's true of any program. It's
not a slight on anybody that's been here before. It's
just simply trying to build on what's already been done,
and let's try to strive to do something else a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
No I had, somebody asked me is today, So it's
fresh on my mind. The you know, kind of the
difference between hiring and this was actually about another sport,
not about football, but the difference between hiring somebody's experience
for somebody's not.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
And there's pros and cause to both. Okay, let's just
be fair.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Young guy brings this energy or first time guy's got
a lot of there's like an idealism to it. It
actually can really help. It can permeate into the And
what I said was the difference was the younger and
I'm by younger, I mean an experience, not an age.
So the guy that's younger in his head coaching experience
probably typically my experience when they focus too much on

(18:24):
trying to win. And that sounds dumb to say. But
the guy that's been around a little while, the guy
that's on his third job, is focusing on things that
help you win. That's right, and not winning. Like you're
not sitting around obsessed with winning. We're talking about the
wait room, we're talking about doing this, We're talk about
we're talking about doing that. I'm spending all my energy
on things that are a standard and then that will

(18:46):
lead to winning. And I think when you don't, it
takes a while to learn that. And sometimes people get
out of coaching before they learn that, or they get
run off somewhere or whatever it is and they never
get another chance. But the people who've been successful, they
focus on things other than winning it. And I know
that sounds crazy. Anybody anybody that's hearing that thinking crazy.

(19:06):
That means they're not ready yet. Anybody that heard that
as the gospel then that's the people that have been
through it, Right, you spend your energy on things that
aren't about winning. You just spend your energy on getting
better and focused. And I learned that the young guys
in experience spend a ton of time just trying to win.
All they care about is trying to win, and they
spend way too much energy on that. So anyway, I

(19:29):
don't even if there's a question there, I just want
to share. But what do you think about that?

Speaker 3 (19:32):
I think you're one hundred percent right.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
And there's this guy that you may have heard of
a school somewhere over there across the chattahooche I think
it's called Alabama.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
That Nick Saban, I think sounded.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Just like I mean, it is the same thing.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
I think even if you're at Union County or Towns County,
or Pickens or Cartersville or Calhoun, right, it's really not evendifferent.
Like you may have a different standard of what they
expect to win. You know, Alabama, they got a different
expectation than we had a Pickings, But I don't think
the energy should have been any different, Like the energy
should have just been on things that got you better

(20:07):
and not that worried about winning, and winning would come.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
The sign of a good coach is not the number
of wins that you get, which is important. I'm a
terrible look, I'll be the first admitted, But it's wherever
you're at, what is that ceiling supposedly trying to bust it?
You know, if that ceiling is five wins, you're trying
to get the six. If that ceiling is ten wins,
you're trying to get to eleven. And you know, if

(20:34):
a good coach can get to that point where he
is consistently bust you know, hitting at that high level
mark and pushing past it some you're a successful coach.
In my book, some of the best coaches are at
schools that you know aren't traditionally in the state championship.
But I know the things that they're putting up with
as far as being hand tied, handcuffed, excuse me, with

(20:56):
certain things.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Would it be athletes or administration or whatever. But I
can respect the fact.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
But the reason they're successful is focusing on process. So
that's it, and that's what I guess I'm saying. I
think sometimes when you to use that term and say
people are there, there there are some struggles that they
can't control, right, and then some people let that define
them where they just they it just consumes them. And
the ones who succeed just take that and move forward

(21:24):
and still focus on did we do the best we
could do today at these things?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
You know?

Speaker 1 (21:28):
And so I think when I heard your answer on
what you're working on, that's what I heard. That's why
I went there. But I just think that the more
bettering guys hear that, like they just they just want
to focus on the weight room. You just want to
focus on getting better, getting a little bit better every day,
the teen culture and and and of course that doesn't
mean I want to win. Like actually, I think the
longer you do this, the more you hate losing. The
more you win, the more you want to win. But

(21:50):
you just can't obsessed with winning. You got to obsessed
with little things. Well, coach, I appreciate you indulgently with that.
So so laj's like halfway between you and me. So
Mike Thompson lives in LJ and you know, he ain't
listen to podcasts, so we can talk about him. He
only know how to turn a podcast on. So uh,
but we'll go see Mike one day and we'll have
us a good time.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
How about that.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Hey, I'm want to demand that he buys us supper.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Listen if he if he's not listening, if he can
tell me he listened to this, I'll buy supper because
I can't.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Turn on a podcast.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
But oh lord, but if somebody can prove to me
he listened, I'll buy his dinner. And because of that,
he may do it, because you know that's about his style. No, man,
but let's get together sometime. Be good to see you.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Sounds good, coach. I always enjoyed talking to you. You're
one of the best best dudes on that.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Thanks man, appreciate you. See you soon they can see.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
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(23:45):
All right, please be joined this time by coach Justin Montgomery,
the new head coach Jones County coach.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thanks joining me, Thank you, Thank you, coach. I appreciate you. Yeah. Man,
So why Jones County? What drew you to this opportunity?

Speaker 6 (24:00):
Family?

Speaker 7 (24:00):
So, my family lives in McIntyre, Georgia, in Wilkinson County,
about thirty minutes from right here, and my mom passed
about four years ago, So my dad's still living in
McIntyre next to my sister and her family and my
in laws just moved to Saint Mary's And so for us,
we had two little girls and a baby boy on
the way, and man, we just we were in a

(24:23):
really good spot in Carrollton and we really enjoyed it.
But for us, I was ready to be a head
coach and this place is close to the family and it's
a really good school system that I fired up to
raise my kids in.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, coach, that's all I asked youly, like Carrollton defensive coordinators,
how we known you the last few years?

Speaker 2 (24:39):
You made the name of yourself there.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
You guys in a great job, one of the great
programs in the state, working with a great head coach
in the state. So the great opportunity had to be
had to be great to leave that. Would you feel
like you learned the most from Coach King or the
other guys you worked with getting you ready for taking
this first time head coach.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
Job leadership at Carleton without a doubt, From doctor Alberta
to our r a d our principal and Coach King,
I just felt like those guys and the way they
led with people.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
First.

Speaker 7 (25:08):
You know, a lot of people talk about Carleton's facilities.
When they think about Carleton, they think about the shininess
of it. And I'll tell you all the time, the
Carlton the best thing about it are the people there
and the way they went about helping me prepare to
be a head coach. Coach King was intentional with that
every year, our end of the year EVA Oil process
and the way our superintendent and everybody was really really

(25:30):
supportive and helpful in the process of allowing.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Me to grow and go.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
But you were some of the other guys that had
been mentors to you. If somebody didn't know you as
well know your path, who are some guys that you
looked up to or guys you learned from along the
way to get you here other than what you learned
at Carleton.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
Yeah, So coach Coach Kincheske, Coach k Up at Barry
College has been very influential to me.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
He was my decordinator in college.

Speaker 7 (25:53):
Then he hired me on as graduate assistant when we
started the program at Barry, and he taught me a
lot about the game, the way to go about things
the right way, and he was a father figure in
a lot of ways to me. Nate masters who actually
replaced me at Carrollton has really been a really good
friend mentor in so many ways just from X's and

(26:14):
O's and he and I have been in a discipleship
group together for two years and that was really cool
time to be in the same town one of my
close friends but also a guy that I looked to
to bounce ideas off the nex's and O's. Super thankful
for those guys in my life and Zach Grage, Alan Rodermaker,
Mike Chastain. All three of those guys took shots on

(26:34):
me to run their defenses at different points in my career,
and I think every single one of those guys taught
me something everywhere I went, So I think all of
those men have poured into me in a different way.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, Coach Jones County is a great place, you know,
the last ten or twelve years, they've been pretty consistently
pretty good.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Before that, maybe not as much.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
So what have you learned about the community and the
place and the expectations since you got there?

Speaker 7 (26:59):
You've been there a few mounts, right, Yeah, March first
was my official start date. I've learned a lot about
our kids. It's a really unique group of kids that
I think are looking for a relationship that have gone
through coaching change and so uh just seeing their hunger
to grow, their hunger to connect. That's been really cool
to see a group of guys that, Man, when you

(27:21):
come in, they're fired up to lift weights, they're fired
up to to learn and grow. I think the community,
uh is trying to recover from the coach and change
and transition, but they're looking for some excitement become. Everybody's
ready for football Friday nights here and I've heard a
lot of people that are ready to to to support it,
support us and get things going.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (27:42):
So it's it's a small town football environment, and man,
I think that's something that you know, Carrollton was it was.
It used to be a small town and it's grown
and it's become a big, big environment. You get, you
get a lot of folks and that you get on
TV at ESPN, this and that. I think in Great Georgia. Man,

(28:03):
it's still a lot of what you think about when
you think about high school football.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
And that fires me up. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Very good coach. So outside of Jones County, we'll get
back to talking about them. What have you been working
on this off season? Give me something you feel like.
You know, you've finished last season and you said, I
really want to study what.

Speaker 7 (28:22):
Yeah, I'm every off season I study different things. And
I talked about Nate Masters, you know, in that discipleship group,
we found a group of coaches and we live a
unique lifestyle and coaching and to find guys that are
after this in the same mission to share the gospel,
but to also be able to do a good job
in our day job, do a good job with coaching,

(28:43):
do a good job with our families and our wives.
I think the biggest thing for me has just been
the time management and the discipline component of organizing my time.
That's something that I've become really passionate about and so
making sure that to be able to manage a lot,
you've got to be organized. And a lot of people
manage their money with budgets. We don't manage our time

(29:06):
with budgets. So I think that's something that I've been
really trying to just continue to grow in for almost
almost two years now, and I'm still I'm pretty caught
up in it right now. The other one, I think
has just been accountability with coaches, with doing it a
way that I want to do it where there's respect,
there's care and accountability. But I tell people all the time,

(29:27):
when kids love discipline and coaches love leadership, I think
having coaches know that you're going to follow up and
you're going to inspect. Coach King was phenomenal at always
following up after he delegated a job or he expected
something from you.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, I think the organization piece is actually what separates
a lot of people. I was told here there's four
real things that a leader has to do. But obviously,
as a coach, you're a leader. You got to lead
by example. You got build relationships, you got accept ownership,
and got embraced change. But all four of those things
are not equally easy to Most coaches are already good
at It's not that you breeze over bill in relationships.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Bill.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Relationship is probably the most important thing. But you're a
good coach. People made you a head coach because you're
good at beiling relationships. We already know you are. You're
you're a head coach candidate because you lead by example,
right what we hadn't seen you do yet. Sometimes not
just you personally, I mean any upcoming coach is accepting ownership,
embracing change, working through difficult things right, And usually people

(30:26):
fall on that because of their organization. The failure comes
from a lack of organization, not from that they weren't
trying hard or they weren't a good person. And I
think that's the mistake people make. So I feel like
you're way ahead or where I would have been for
focusing on organization. Like I asked you what you're working
on and you didn't say, we're just working on three
safety defense this year, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Like, work on that if you want.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Obviously that's fun, that's the fun part, but you better
get organized. You've ever had to manage your time because
that's how you're going to get all those.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Different pieces of leadership, not just a fun one. Right.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah, So talk to me about Jones County and I'll
get you out of here. What what what have you
learn from the kids? What do you see is something
maybe that needs to improve? What's something that if we're
going to have the season we want to have in
year one, we want to really get back where they've
been and maybe go even further.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
What's what's got improved from now to then? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (31:20):
So we've been doing. We call them family meetings. So
that's one of the things that I think is unique
is that we get to have a family model program.
It's a one horse town. You get to have kids
from elementary to middle to high school, so you get
to build relationships here and that's that's a unique opportunity.
So we want to build it from from the top
down in that capacity. The thing that I think is, uh,

(31:45):
it's been really cool to see as our guys have
started to.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
Buy in on the family model.

Speaker 7 (31:49):
So we have team meetings, but we call them family meetings,
and in those we've had some assessments and I tell
them we're assessing our program in three rooms. The first
one is the weight room, so we've hired coach Taylor
Williams as our strength and conditioning coordinator. Came to us
from Gainsbillies from forsythe originally, and he's done a phenomenal
job just partnering with me, understanding the vision that we

(32:12):
want to cast and building it into our strength and
conditioning program and that's been the driver for our team
right now. So the weight room is our first room
that we're trying to build culture around. The second one
is the locker room, and then the third one we
call it the practice room. We say practice room and
meeting rooms are the same for us, So we want
to make sure that we're building it in those three

(32:32):
rooms in order the details of how does my locker
need to look, the details of how do we need
to meet the details of when we're in the weight room,
are our shirt's going to be tucked in? Our ear
ring is going to be out? Are we going to
make sure that we look like a team in the
weight room every single day? And something Coach King used
to say that I've taken with me is how you

(32:53):
do anything, so how.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
You do everything.

Speaker 7 (32:55):
Some guys may argue that, but I think in this
situation it holds true.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Making sure that you know, I'm walking around with my shirt.

Speaker 7 (33:02):
Tail toocked in every day, and I tell the guys
it ain't because it just looks really cool. It's just
a discipline and willingness to do things that other people
might not be willing to do.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Coach, I'm impressed with your your approach, and I know
it's part because you know you've been preparing for this
and you've been around some good people. So what what's maybe?
Is there anything that was even just a few months
in this not what you thought or what you're prepared for. Like,
what's something that maybe you didn't realize you had to
deal with even though no matter how much you prepare,

(33:32):
there's always things that come up when your head coach
knew that you're like, man, I didn't realize long we
spending my time doing this.

Speaker 7 (33:40):
That's a great question, And that's probably some things that
I've verbalized already that I that I'm not thinking of
right now. But the one that jumps off to me is,
you know, when you come in and you're hiring a
lot of new coaches, every school system kind of has
their own way in process of that, and my experience
in that realm, I've moved around a lot as according

(34:00):
and my experience might not be the exact same thing
that our process here is. So learning our process and
taking time. I wish that when I walked in the door,
I have said, hey, explain this process to me, because
that's probably an area where I haven't been, you know,
hitting on all cylinders when it comes to Okay, what

(34:20):
do I need to do in my role to make
sure that our process is good and at a championship
caliber when it comes to hiring a new family into
the school system.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
That's actually a really good observation because that is one
of the things that it's hard to prepare for. And
like I said, even if you prepare for it, Carrollton
or other places may be different in the new school district.
So even preparation may not be helping you.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
You know, you got to just figure it out. How
that's the right questions. Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 7 (34:46):
As I'm reflecting on that, it's like, Man, I should
have asked these questions.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
That's actually something people can learn because I think all
of us have dealt with that. I dealt with that
both times I took over a team coach. You mentioned
coach Williams string conditioning, you talking about how and people,
So I love this part. You know, tell me who
you can anyway, who's maybe who's still on the staff
that's been there, who you bringing back or who's new
to Jones County rag On his assistant coaches a little bit.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (35:13):
Absolutely, So the the guys that that are we say
we're rehiring him. Honestly, they're they're going to stay in
there teaching capacity here. But they they've interviewed with me
They've all done a good job and I'm excited about him.
Alexis Humphreys is going to coach our defensive line. He's
our one of our middle school weight training coaches too,
So having a d line coach that's in your weight

(35:35):
room with your feeder program is a really big deal.
H David Denson is our tight ends coach. He's coming
back again for us. Adam Gilhaus is our head wrestling coach.
He's also going to run our football operations. So having
a guy I've worked with him before and he's the
he's the head coach of another sport, so having him
help me and the operations department has been really good.

(35:56):
He also runs our video broadcasting department at the school,
so all these highlight.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Videos we see, it's part of it now.

Speaker 7 (36:02):
They'll do it in house now, which we did a
squat party video the other day and put it on Twitter.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Man, that fired me up.

Speaker 7 (36:09):
Yeah, that was an in house we don't and that's
really that's that's It reminds me a lot of Barried College,
where our students can do a lot of work here.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
That's kind of the design of our school system too. U.

Speaker 7 (36:18):
But then we've also had coach Williams approved, and then
we just got coach Antoine Tumor approved and coach River
Vaughn approved. And cool thing about coach Tumor and coach
Vaughn as both of them are.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Alumni of Jones County.

Speaker 7 (36:29):
And we've got a few other guys that I can't
talk about quite yet that are alumni that.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Don't get yourself in trouble. That's right, they'll be coming back.

Speaker 7 (36:36):
But but guys that have worn the colors and uh
and and guys that really care about this place.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
I'm fired up with our staff. That's awesome. Coach.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
I love when and I guess because maybe I'm biased
on this because I did it too, but I love
when somebody comes in new and they bring in a
lot of guys that have been there or guy and
and some new guys of course, because you've got to
bring in some new guys, but mix the old with
the new. That's really the way to have the most
success is people that know that place and people that

(37:04):
want to push the envelope from other places.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Right.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Both, I really think both is the key. And for
whatever reason, sometimes you struggle with that. You know at
some places so excited to hear that. Man, I'm fired
up for you. I think it's gonna be great well.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
And I appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (37:18):
I think I think I'd be remiss to say that
if I hadn't looked at a lot of your Parker
Resources stuff that you put out on Twitter, and I've
been able to click and download, there's a lot of
organization things that I might not be ready for too.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
So I appreciate putting those things out there.

Speaker 7 (37:31):
Man.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
I'll tell you what's great, man, is I hadn't coached
a ball game in seven or eight years now, and
it's exciting to me that something I did or used
to do can help somebody. You know what I mean,
Because it's dead for me. But it's not dead, you
know what I mean some people, but it means a
lot to me. I don't care if you even use it.

(37:51):
I mean, if you just saw something that made you
think of something else, you know it got your mind going.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Man, that makes me happy because the way me stuff.

Speaker 7 (38:00):
Every time you put something new out, I get a
text message from our DFO and instat a spreendshout of it.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
I appreciate that keeps me going because I enjoy doing it.
But you want to be helpful, you know, so, uh,
And I enjoy talking to you guys, man, I mean
this is fun for me. So I'm excited to follow
Jones County. I mean it's a good place, and I
think you have you got it. Got a good region,
tough region, you know, pretty competitive region, and it's gonna
be excited to see what you guys can do.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
It's still open up with veterans. I got the schedule
from last year. I don't have next year. Yeah we will.
We'll scrimmage Mary Parson's open up with veterans.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
And then they played the same schedules last year our
second game region, how about that?

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, which is helpful. And I have to come in
and set a new schedule. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
Look, I'm telling you, I ask Joey about that. There's
nothing worse to making the schedule, especially if you're good.
So yeah, be grateful for the nine game region schedule.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
Man.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Hey, really, if I can never help you out, let
me know. I'm really excited for you, excited to follow
you guys this year, and really, any time I can
help you, please reach out.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
Yeah, man, come down here to the Hound Pound. We'll
win tough shirt and some dairy queen ice cream brother.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Hey, that's you talking my language now, coach, Hey, how
or if you need something?

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Hey care appreciate you now.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
Please be joined us time by coach Brett Vova, the
new head coach Edawa High School Coach.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
Thanks for joining me, Thanks for having me coach. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Man.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
What a great season first off last year at Spraybury. Uh,
I know that place is really special to you. Had
the best season in school history before you and ask
you about the next thing, you know, tell me what
that meant to you.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
Yeah, that meant man, a great deal to me, just
you know, being in alum from from Spraybury, and I
felt like it took you some time to get it,
to get it in the place where I felt really
good about it. Of course we had made p a
lot of progress over the years, but that's tough years
early and then I felt like you got it turned

(39:57):
around and then had a couple down here here and
there and then but we kind of got into a
really good place last year and just really coaching staff
and it was uh one for the history. So uh,
you know, I'm gonna be more proud of the work
that was put in our our kids and our coaching staff,

(40:18):
and uh yeah, so meant a heck of a lot
to me.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Yeah, absolutely, coach, you guys did a great job.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
And I know people I saw, I mean a lot
of people told you that and it was well deserved.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
So why Itawa? What makes ed Awa a good drawl?
What makes it a great opportunity for you?

Speaker 5 (40:33):
Yeah, you know it was. It was Obviously It's a
difficult decision because I love my my my time at
spray Area, and I had really good relationships with the
people there. A couple of things, you know, I had
a I have a history at Atawa. I was, I
was there before catching jobs, the coordinated there for five years.

Speaker 6 (40:59):
And I really loved my time there. It was actually hard.
It was really hard to leave the first time, even
stepping into the role as a head coach at Sprayberry.
It was very difficult to leave, just because I feel like.

Speaker 5 (41:14):
I was still growing as a coach, I was still learning,
and I had again great relationships there with coaches and
families and administration and teachers, and I love my time there.
And uh, you know, I wasn't looking or anything, but
when the opportunity presented itself and they reached out to me,

(41:34):
and I knew. I knew what that law could be.
I know what it can be like. When I was
there before, we had it rolling a good coach, Dave Savella.
I worked under him and learned a lot from him.
But I, you know, I think it's a great place.
It's got a lot of resources. And on top of that,
a couple of years ago, I moved up to the community,
and uh, I live in Woodstock. I have a a

(41:58):
fifteen year old daughter that attends out of high school
and I, you know, it's a four minute trip from
my house to school. Yeah, there's a lot of a
lot of good stuff. And you know, I just I
know that you know the resources, you know the amount
of there's an abundance of resources, and there's a there's

(42:18):
a real a whole heck of a lot of support
in the community for the program. And I just thought
with all of that, it is a combination of everything,
if you know, if I really look at the opportunity
and a long term decision that I might I might
miss something pretty good.

Speaker 6 (42:39):
So that's that's why.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah, well I think it's you know, I think it's
a good place. Coach I've worked for Kenny. I thought
that it was a great place. You know, you were
on the teams that were the best teams they've had
in school history, and so yeah, I mean out there
was a great fit. You're coming in with head coach
knowledge and you're coming in with knowledge of the place.
And I've said that several times, but I feel like
that's the key really hitting that winning formula. Sometimes you're

(43:04):
gonna need you know how to be a head coach
and you know a lot about the place, and you
got to at least have one of those two things
going for you. But it's really really special when you
have both. And so you know, I'm excited to see
what you guys can do. What what have you found
to be maybe the biggest hurdle you haven't overcome? You
think in this first six months eight months on the job,
what do you think is will be the biggest hurdle
you haven't ever come?

Speaker 8 (43:25):
Yeah, I mean I think the biggest hurdle is just
been changing the culture of well, you know how the
program was and you know, no no knock on anybody
or anything that was going on before.

Speaker 5 (43:38):
I don't it's not my intent, but it just wasn't
being It wasn't being done the way that I think
it needs to be done, in the way that I
you know, we did it at Scravery. I think just
taking that formula. Obviously it's gonna be different.

Speaker 6 (43:53):
Based on the type.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
Of kids you got, and but by just change culture.
And you know, the kids are doing a great job
this so far. They're working extremely hard, they're buying into what,
you know, what we're asking them to do. I think overall,
that's what's going to take the longest.

Speaker 6 (44:11):
The other thing is just you know, you know, I
mean coaches is was the other portion of this.

Speaker 5 (44:18):
I think everybody kind of is going through this in
Georgia right now, where it's hiring coaches seems to be
a lot slower of a process than.

Speaker 6 (44:29):
It used to be. I think maybe the.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
Economy and some things going on in the metro area
are making it difficult. I of cob how to hire
and freeze for a long time, and it just didn't
seem to.

Speaker 6 (44:41):
Be like there as many as many.

Speaker 5 (44:44):
Positions as there normally are in terms of teaching positions
to get uh, good guys in the building. And so
that's been the other portion of this that's been that's
been a little bit of a challenge, but like we
got the right guys in place, like to be able
to hire at least at least one more coach. But yeah,

(45:04):
i'd say that culture piece and then just hiring coaches.
Those there have been two challenges so far.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Well, coach, since you brought it up, I'll ask you
this one.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Now, tell me a little bit about the assistants whoever
you can tell me about or who's ever been bored
approved or you know they're staying or whatever.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
You know, brag on your coach is a little bit
for me.

Speaker 6 (45:23):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Yeah, So I'll talk about the guys I'm bringing first
and then the guys that are remaining on staff. So
I'm I'm very fortunate to bring over my offensive coordinator
that was very Ben McLain. He's a he's a young,
bright coach, very smart, hard worker, very loyal. But you know,

(45:48):
I was able. It's kind of a weird, funny, weird
situation I had. I went through a couple offensive coordinators
that's spray very and they all moved on to do
you know, you know, basically take a step up to
them or or more or more money, which is a
step up, so I'm not losing my offensive coordinator a

(46:10):
week before summer going into that twenty twenty three season,
and so I was kind of scrambling a little bit
to try to find somebody because a week before summer,
I mean, it's just a it's a it's a real
late game, and it's hard to find somebody. You're either
going to need to find somebody that's a probably not
qualified or maybe he's qualified but you know, has been

(46:31):
at a lot of different places. And you know, I
was wanting somebody that has been you know, solidified and
was it was at one place or a couple of
places for a long time, or you're going to find
somebody that is qualified but not has been given the
opportunity yet. And that's what I found it because we're
playing I was sailing from Brookwood High School and he's

(46:52):
he's done just a fantastic job for us at Sprayberry
and I know he's going to do great things at
that a lot, but he's he's shown so much growth
of the last from twenty twenty three to.

Speaker 6 (47:01):
Twenty four is just really really good.

Speaker 5 (47:03):
So I was key for me getting him over to
a lot and Cherokee County. Was you know, crazy, fortunate
enough to get him over this semester. He was in
the building with me and I believe February. So that's
the first hire was was Ben McLean Still working on
this one, but he's you know, he's a community coach.

(47:24):
But Jack Mannick a special teams coordinator, wide receivers coach.

Speaker 6 (47:29):
It's been with me.

Speaker 5 (47:29):
I hired him as a community coach a February's twenty
one years of age and a young guy played at
Milton High School and is just he's been talking about
a young sharp coach man. He's he's gonna be a
great coordinator one day, but he's gonna be a special
teams coordinator, coach of receivers and kind of coach McClain's

(47:50):
right hand man. But he does a really good job.
So fortunate enough to get him over there. Also brought
my linebackers coach. He's going to be coaching outside linebackers
and teaching math. Thatawa coach John work List, great great guy,
great human being, great coach, hard worker, guy takes initiative
so fired up that we're able to get him. Coach

(48:13):
Russ Eisham is coming.

Speaker 6 (48:15):
With me from Spraybury. He's not community coach, but I
was a longtime head coach.

Speaker 5 (48:23):
At a number of places. But he's been a coordinator
both sides the ball. Just brings the whole wealth knowledge
and wisdom and experience to our staff. You know, guy
that's been coaching for over thirty years. So he's going
to be coaching our tight ends and our full backs.
And then my TV coach from from Sprayberry, I brought

(48:43):
him with me, uh Corbyn Jackson, another community coach, played
for me at Spraybury, played at Charleston Southern, was an
you know, all conference safety there and so he's gonna
be working with our defensive bags.

Speaker 6 (48:59):
So very very fortunate enough to bring those guys with me.

Speaker 9 (49:03):
And it's a testament to our you know relationship that
we we've had over the years and you know relationship,
but I've.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
I've been able to, you know, kind of foster the
relationships I've been able to foster as a coach and
with some of my assistant coaches, so our guys that
we're keeping on staff. You see here defensive coordinator from
last year, Davis Harvey. Davis and I have known each
other a long time, just from our old days at
coaching track and uh, but Davis has been kissed this

(49:38):
year twenty nine, I think coming up from him, but
it was his first year at Ottawa last year. But
he's been in the county off and on for a
long time, played at the Citadel and has a lot
of knowledge and has been doing it for a long time.
So just with our past and knowing each other, you know,
kind of made sense to keep him on staff. I
thought he did a great job for them last year

(50:00):
just watching film and meeting with him, and then obviously
sprad very way to play against those guys I've had
a great plan against us. So keeping coach Harvey to
coach Andrew Suggs or strength coordinator. He's coaching the defensive
line and does a great job in the strength program.
That's something that I was looking at doing if I
was going to stay at Spraverery was bringing in a

(50:24):
kind of take off. Obviously, that's something I've been doing
for a long time and I enjoyed doing it. But
as you get into it, one bit more involved as
a head coach and you know, be able to oversee
things better. Plus guys hearing from you all the time,
all the time, psych I need to be hearing from
somebody else sometimes, So that's been great having him on staff,

(50:45):
and he's been there for I think this is going
to be a fit season.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
But he does a great job with those guys.

Speaker 5 (50:51):
Casey wind Guard, an Needewild legend, Georgia Southern Eagle defensive line,
he's going to be he was coaching O line last year.
He's moving him over to the defensive side of the ball
where he's gonna work with our nose guards. And that's
you know, he's got an experience doing that, playing that
and coaching that, so he's he's gonna do a great
job for us. Chris Brice former Sprayberry guy but coached

(51:15):
at Osborne for a long time. Coach Bryce and I
worked together at Atawall the first time when.

Speaker 6 (51:20):
I was there. So he's gonna be coaching our inside backers.

Speaker 5 (51:22):
Just a phenomenal guy, very very tough nosed coach. UH
head soccer coach, does a good job with our soccer
program and then first year coaching the backers.

Speaker 6 (51:35):
We're going to keep him there uh this season.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
See who else that's everybody on the defensive side ball,
offensive side of the ball, coach Ben Martin, who's a long
time Cherokee County guy. He was he was the offensive
coordinator last year at a Wall and I thought did
a great job with everything he had. And as resource

(52:00):
versus you know, we're moving him down to the offensive line.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
So he's going to be coaching.

Speaker 5 (52:04):
The offensive line along with old Rick John who was
on staff last year, former NFL guy, A big old
joker that does a great job. Brings some fire and
some passion to UH to the offensive line. But those
guys are going to be working together. Already talked about Jack,
already talked about Russ Eisham. Taylor Majors is staying on staff.

(52:27):
He's going to be coaching the running backs. He's an
out of all guy, played baseball and football at Edaball
and he's been on staff I think since I've left
back in two I think seventeen or eighteen. He works
with both programs and does a great job, got a
lot of pride for the school. Works really well, UH

(52:49):
and as a hard worker like dude that's always up
there working on the on the baseball field or you know,
working on stuff around the fields. Just pours a lot
of time into into to that place, Taylor. Let's see
who will someone listen h Oline coaches coach McLean, Coach

(53:10):
Marin and coach Majors coach who else?

Speaker 6 (53:15):
Coach Porchardine, Jason Porchardin a baseball coach.

Speaker 5 (53:19):
Got a really good player in our program that plays
plays baseball in our program. He's a start catcher. But
Jason has been around, He's uh, he was a Wheeler
for some time. He's been a touchdown. He's been from
the McComb area, but he's uh, he's gonna be our
head freshman coach working on our program. And the coach
and who's a community coach. I've known Jeff. He's another

(53:42):
guy working with our fresh program. I think that's about it. Coach, Yeah,
I don't.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
That's the problem with asking that question is put you
on the spot and you got to get all of
them right out there.

Speaker 5 (53:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
I'm pretty good.

Speaker 6 (53:54):
I'm pretty good with names and remembering remembering those guys.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
I'm I.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
Just wanted to know that if you have to put
up with Davis Harvey and Casey Wingard and Ben Martin
at the same time, I hope they're paying you well.

Speaker 6 (54:09):
Is a challenge.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Che That's three good dudes right there. Man, I'm excited to.

Speaker 6 (54:15):
Hear them with you Turkey County legends.

Speaker 7 (54:17):
Man.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Yeah, absolutely, Listen, I coached against wing guard. That's how
old I am. And I'm telling you he was one
of the best players high school players you ever gonna
play against. I've heard I shouldn't have let it. I
shouldn't have said that publicly. Now he's gonna he may
hear that. I want to compliment him, but he was
really good. I guarantee of Martin couldn't block him.

Speaker 5 (54:36):
I don't think Casey's head could get any bigger.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
So yeah, Hunky, well that's true. Absolutely, you got some
goblin's coach. I'm excited to hear about that. I'm excited
to see what you guys can do. I'll get you
out of here on this. What's what's the what's really
got to happen from now till November? If you guys
have a really successful first season, like, what's really got
to come together?

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (54:56):
I mean always, you know, the kind of cliche thing
to say is the buying from the kids, And you know,
I don't really worry about that.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
The kids are doing a great job. I think for us,
it's more about getting the right personnel in the right place,
because we're still kind of figuring that out.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
You know.

Speaker 5 (55:12):
We went to Sequoya on Friday night and they got
a goodtball team. Man Peter does a great job, and
we went over there and got smacked around. I mean,
it was it was. It was tough. I mean some
good things. Uh, you know, I knew it was gonna
be a tough match up. I was hoping it wasn't
going to be as lopsided as it was. But you know,
I think for us, we saw we got some questions answered,

(55:34):
and we saw some of our deficiencies against someone else.
It's a really good football team that's physical and you know,
well coached and disciplined and kind of where we're trying
to take this thing at Ottawa right now.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
You know.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
So that's a that's a credit to and I think
for us as a coach is it's going to be
about getting because we've got good enough players.

Speaker 10 (55:58):
You know, we've got we've got some some areas that
we've got to drastically improve on, and but we've got
some pretty good players and we've just got.

Speaker 5 (56:08):
To figure out where they're going to help our football
team win games.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
The most.

Speaker 5 (56:14):
And so that I think is the key to this
season and being able to, you know, have some success
and win some ball games and just get this thing
going in the right direction from the wins and losses perspective.
So I think personnel and getting them in the right
place along with the buying is going to be key

(56:34):
for us to to yeah, have successes.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Here, Yeah, I think so. Coach.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
I actually think that's one of the most underrated or
under talked about things, is the good coach's ability to
get the most out of each person and not just
by effort or attitude, but by finding the skill set
that matches them the best. You know, you got to
feel like a lot of people give good effort, a
lot of people got good attitudes more than we probably
even say. It's really more about can we put this
kid where they can be the most successful And and

(57:03):
that's not really as easy as people think.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
And you miss a lot too because you're guessing.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
You're taking some educated guesses, but you're guessing a lot
and finding that right balance is what the best teams have.
Like your team, it's Frabruary last year, like some of
the teams you're on EDEWA before you were able to
find those connections. You're at this combination, so uh, you
got the right guys to do it.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Man.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
I'm really excited to follow you guys. As noted, I
do have some people I love on your staff and
so I'm pulling for you guys and be looking forward
to watching you. If I can help you any way,
you know, please let me know. Yeah, take care, coach,
Good luck to you.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Thanks a lot, Yes, sir,