281. Georgia New Hires, Part 4: Banks, Prewett, Harold

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:

• Terrance Banks, new Head Coach at Central Gwinnett
• Chris Prewett, new Head Coach at Dalton
• Larry Harold, new Head Coach at Irwin Co.

Episode Transcript

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(00:52):
is sid services dot com. Hey everybody, welcome back to
the Parker Resource Podcast Summer New Hire Series from Georgia Coaches.
You can be listening for wherever, but we got our
Georgia Coaches New Hire series this summer and we've got

(01:15):
three new hires today. Great guys, I hope you're going
to get a lot out of this one. We've got
Terrence Banks coming from Green County where they had historic run,
going to Central Gwinnette, Big Guinnette School, going from small
school to big school. Looking forward to talking to Coach
Banks when our friends. Next, we got Coach Prewitt, Chris
Prewitt leaving Roswell as a head coach, going to Dalton

(01:38):
to be the head coach. All three of these guests
today head coaches last year going into head coaching jobs
this year. Chris Prewitt going from Roswell to Dalton. Dalton
very tradition rich, but Roswell was too, so talk to.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Him about that.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Looking forward to talking to him. And lastly Larry Harald,
who was at Central Gwinnette and is now the new
coach at Irwin County where there's a lot of expectations
as well. County has been a perennial state power for
many years. So excited to hear what these guys have
to say, and I hope you enjoyed us. Joined this

(02:11):
time by one of our favorite guys, H Parker Resource
Podcast Legend Coach Terrence Banks, the new head Cohen that
Coach Banks.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Thanks for joining me, man, thank you for having me,
because y'all know about Legend. But I'm happy to be
here coach.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Great job at Green County, really got them going Central
when that opportunity comes around.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
Why Central when that?

Speaker 5 (02:36):
You know, for me, I think the hardest part and
the thing that was having to make a decision is coaches.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
You know, I took you all the time. Coaches say
these three.

Speaker 5 (02:48):
Things, but we don't live it always, which is faith,
family in football. You know, we'd like to say those
three things, and we'd like to say it in that order. Well,
you know, for the past three years for me, it's
kind of been faith, football, football, football, and then family.
So we were never able to kind of transition out

(03:12):
closer to Grand County. And when Centrical Net came open,
it was, you know, it's I drove an hour one
way to work and Centrical Nett is eighteen minutes to work.
And Jason Carrera, obviously at the time was the athletic
director who I had a good close relationship with. To

(03:37):
give me a chance to be closer to my son's school.
My oldest son will actually be a ninth grader on
our football team next year.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
So it was a very very hard decision.

Speaker 5 (03:48):
But I just at that point I felt like I
needed to do x Y and z more for my
family than for myself.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
There's some people out there that need to hear that,
you know. I mean, it's it's easy to say family stuff,
it's hard to actually do. I think we probably don't
talk about that enough that you know how hard it
is to really put some other things first. So I
appreciate you being candid about that. I think people need
to hear that kind of stuff because I think sometimes

(04:16):
unfortunately we change jobs and we say family, but it
might be that we didn't like the principle.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
But but sometimes you've got to do what's best for
your family for real, not just because it sounds right.
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
What?

Speaker 1 (04:33):
You know when that county though, Coach, you've been up
metaw Creek, you know that area. What's what's got to
happen there to make that team where what it can be.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
You want me to give you the politically correct answer,
you want me to give you this, but.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
You gave me the honest answer with the why central net.
So I had to double down and see if I
could get the honest answer on what's got to get better.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
Well, coach, you know I don't I don't hold no punches,
you know me. I ain't never been that kind of guy.
I think let's just be real where we are, and
I whope coaches don't Oh lord, I hope, uh Georgia
High School don't take this throng way. I think a
lot about Georgia High School, and I know this is
that they're dealing with. It's in the metro area, it's everywhere.

(05:21):
So let me not just say metro. It is everywhere
where parents can change living situations, and so Central is
dealing with something that's twofold. I think one our school
population in Central is probably about fifty five percent is

(05:42):
African American, thirty five percentage by Hispanics. So we deal
with transient students, but we've got to do a better
job of keeping kids home because there, look, it's not
just quote unquote finding new address like in Gownett County.
We have I think thirteen of our high schools are

(06:03):
permissive transfer schools. So if you're a rising ninth grader
and you don't like a school, you at there thirteen
different schools where you can do permissive transfer. And so
some of the things that are broken that Central is
just keeping some of that homegrown talent home. And I
think you know, an interesting fat coach is centricl Nets

(06:24):
last time making the second round of the playoffs, which
is which was in twenty fifteen, so it's been ten years.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
And in that twenty fifteen season.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
Terrence Banks and the Newton Rams are the team that
beat Centrical Net. So you know, coach Wafford kind of
had it going where he would make the playoffs two
out of three years, had a second round run and
for the last five necessarily hadn't hadn't been that as
some other schools around have exploded, and then you know
growth in centricl Nets. So number one, we got to

(06:57):
give our kids a reason to want to be here,
and then from there we've got to do a good
job of training our kids up. You know, I talked
to my coaches today about excuses because you know, Centrical
Net in a lot of ways, it's a six say
school with five A numbers, And as I told them,

(07:21):
I can't.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Control whether we can win an A pill to get
down to five A.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
What I can control is what the eleven coaches outside
of me and the seventy five kids today do and
then hopefully that number will grow, and you got to
find a way to make one.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
So I think we just got to do a better job.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
Of, you know, of coaching up what we have and
then making sure that parents want to play here, because
you know, since I've gotten here, I've got this kid
played at our Wreck, this kid's played Oreck, this kid's
played it ourect great. But they're not coming to the
high school. So what is the disconnect? And then the
kids that we do have, how do we enrich them
to what they can be?

Speaker 1 (08:00):
See. I don't really shy away from that talk because
I know, I mean, anybody listening this knows that in
all this in Alabama they had these same problems. I
know because I got friends. But in Georgia we got
to Metro Atlanta. People going to transfer as part of it.
But I don't shy away from it because I appreciated
your answer. The first answer is you got to do

(08:20):
the best you can do with what you got, and
you got to recruit your own people and make them
want to be there. Now, that doesn't give an excuse
to anybody that's doing something they shouldn't be doing to
recruit your kids away, But first you control recruiting them
to want to stay, or build a program where that
fifth grader right now in four years, wants to go

(08:41):
to ninth grade at Central. Whet you know, And I
do think sometimes the fear of talking honestly about it,
or worrying so much about stuff you can't control, makes
people do a bad job of what they can control.
So I've also never been to coach at Central, Gennette,
So am I all that?

Speaker 5 (09:01):
No, I mean coach, I think that's I think that
is spot on, and I mean I think that's.

Speaker 4 (09:07):
Like I told my coach the same thing.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
Hey, the goal is to go want to know every
day and hopefully in that process it gives us to
what we want to do, which is game eleven and
you have to give then the kids a reason Tuesday.
And what I know is what I believe is two things.
Central has made the playoffs probably last fifteen years, five

(09:31):
or six times, so it's possible. And then number two,
like you said, I've never shot away from that work.
I think with a lot of people who may not
know a lot about me, is I don't think I've
ever been to a program coaching, you know this where I've
taken a program that was already.

Speaker 4 (09:48):
A success story. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
You know, when when you know, I got to Newton
not a blessed time after Nick Collins had kind of
started restarting the program. They had fell a hard time.
When I got the green, Larry Milligan was retiring for
the second time. You know, he was trying to get
it stabilized, and you know, I'm kind of getting the
central in that in that timeframe. In the last five years,

(10:11):
they've had one season at five and five, but five
years ago they were zero and ten.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
Last year they were four and six.

Speaker 5 (10:18):
So I think, you know, perfect timing for us to
stretch them and then move them forward while, like you say.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Going back and getting our kids.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
And you know, if people who do follow me on Twitter,
we've made some improvements to our program. And every time
I do that, I always put the mission and division
statement up with it, and that our mission is to
provide an unforgivable, unforgettable experience because kids want the experience.

(10:49):
And you know, I got a former coach I just
hired on staff one of my All state players from Newton.
We don't talk about we were just talking about a
game to day. We didn remember the score, that's how
fleeting that is. But we remember the experience and so
that's what we want to give our kids with and
then the vision to have a big dream and to

(11:11):
go attack it every day.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, I mean, I really think it's a good hire.
I really think you're going to maximize that place because
of these things. So the times we've talked and we've
had different little clinics or whatever, you've always talked about
the things you do at practice or the things you
do with the culture to build the place. And I
think that's what That's what I was saying, is you
got to concentrate on that, and then the people that

(11:38):
can concentrate on that really do build it. You know,
it's cliche to say brick by brick or one day
at a time or whatever it is, but that really
is how you got to do it. And you are
the guy that can do that. Man, I'm saying this publicly.
You can do this because I've seen what you try
to do building the culture with those kids, and so
the kids that come out are going to tell other
kids how they enjoy and over time it's going to develop.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
And so, what what.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Do you like about your team?

Speaker 4 (12:05):
So far?

Speaker 1 (12:05):
You've been able to work with a little bit. What
do you really like about this upcoming season's team.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
Well, you know, I think that you know, we do
have talent and we've and the good thing is anytime
is we got a lot of good young talent, especially
at that at at the skill positions. Obviously football is
one in the dunches, so you know, we've got to
take care of that.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
I maximize that. But we've got a.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Lot of good young kids, especially in our rise in
junior class, who are.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
Played varsity football last year. So I think, you know,
you have that.

Speaker 5 (12:42):
Experience and have hunger, and you know, we do have
a nice group of incoming uh freshmen. So it's just
more about building that culture and getting that those kids
out and just teaching and training, and I really thing,
you know, that's the main thing. Like you said, it's
just teaching and training. But the kids es Central are hungry,

(13:05):
they want to be good, So I think that's that's
the most important thing. I'm not coming into a program.
We don't have high numbers. We won't have high numbers
this year, but like I said, we'll probably be about
seventy five strong for six a team, and that's fine.
We got a lot of kids that are hungry, and
I think, like you said, if kids are hungry, then

(13:25):
they can be taught and molded. It isn't a situation
where the kids don't want to work. I think, you know,
I ask some of my staff today after day three
of the summer, are we doing too much? Because I
saw kind of looks on eyes and faces, and it
was like, Coach, they're just not used to it. They
just got to push through some of the stuff that

(13:46):
you're trying to do. And I just you know, it's
the process, and that's the hard part for all of us.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
We want it now, and I got it, even as coaches.
We want it now. We want to look good today.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
But nobody got a state championship ring today on June
the fourth for will recording this, so they don't get
those out let on and you know, I don't necessarily
think I'll be the team getting it, but it'd be
nice to hopefully do good enough job and keep progressing
to where when we look up ten thirty one and
it's the last game of the season, we may have

(14:20):
put ourselves in position to play on eleven six.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
That's right, that's right, and coach, you got to have
some good people around you to do that. So bag
On this coaching staff a little bit.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Tell me about your coaching staff.

Speaker 5 (14:35):
Yeah, man, I'm excited. So defensive coordinator is Brian Harrison,
which is funny because Brian Harrison.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
Was my defense coordinator at Metal Creek.

Speaker 5 (14:44):
I love to go to to Green County, so getting
him back as our defensive coordinator somebody that you have
worked with, so that helps in the transition for me.
Our co defensive coordinator is and the young man named
Antoine Moore, who I've worked with a lot of guys

(15:05):
I respected, and the guys I knew coached against him when
he was at Archer and I was at Newton.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
So those are, you know, two big highs for me.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
I just talked about the young man that I'm excited
to see coach with Mario Johnson, who was my off
state quarterback at new twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
And now I've.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
Lived long enough to have a kid I coach again
be on my staff.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
So that means I'm getting old. On the office side of.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
The ball just a lot. I got a lot of
good coaches. My office coordinator sertific. Addition to coach, Diego
Dixon does a phenomenal job in the weight room, and
he's a he's very detailed, which is you know, I
am detailed on offense.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
So that's good.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
I was able to bring one of my guys with
me from Green County, Ryan Bullock, who was actually a
Parker Resource Coach of the Year. Look at you, Ryan Butler,
and he made the Georgia Football School thirty on the thirty.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
So nice young coach I've got.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
We It's funny because I think me and Coach Harrison
know more about his dad than he does. Joshua Peugh,
who is George Peugh's son, is my wide receiver coach,
so we give him more stories about his dad as
a coach than he knows because you know, he as
a child, he doesn't, you know, kind of know his

(16:24):
dad in that vein, So we kind of give him
to George Peugh stories. And you know, anybody that's familiar
with centricl Net. Marinophil y'all is back on staff and
he's kind of been a star wars now through probably
the senior statements. He's probably been on this staff now
ten to twelve years. So you know that kind of
thing is good, good solid staff. So and I also

(16:48):
say this, I think and you know this is a
big part of relationship Doctor Carrera. If he's watching this,
I hope he knows that I'm still not happy for him,
but I am. You know, he he hired me and
now he's gone to Macantize to be the athletic director,
which I'm happy for him because if anybody knows, I know,
you know, he made that drive from p Street City
took Onett County for about twelve thirteen years.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
So happy to see him get close to home.

Speaker 5 (17:13):
And I guess he'll drive his golf cart to work
like everybody else at.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Bacintarge the golf he went from the castle to the
golf carts.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
But the new athletic director that hopefully by the time
that were in that will be officially by the time
this is publicized, it is Chad Smith who was actually
you talk about things coming full circle. Chad Smith was
my current athletic director at Green County.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (17:40):
Why Yeah, So he will be the new assistant principal
athletic director at Centric Net. So you talk about that
full circle. I'm a man that's blessed because I got
hired by a guy at ad that I worked for
and was friends with, and now my new income of
AD is somebody who has been my AD for the
last three years, so it is and having to build

(18:01):
a new relationship is us trying to move Central forward
in the right direction, which you know, coaches we talking
about that.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
We said this all the.

Speaker 5 (18:09):
Time, and you said it to Chris Chase administration not talent.
And then having the principal that accepted me, and then
having an ad that both in hire me in and
transition that I have a great relationship with that that
means a lot.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
I think moving this program forward.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
I think when the ad like Career ker Quizz, you'd
be lying if you say you don't have some anxiety.
You know, you thought you had that support. Now you
got to find somebody else. And that happens every time
a principal changes that you feel like you had support
from or adre. So if you can get somebody back
in there familiar with, yeah, you got lucky on that one,

(18:46):
my man.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
So that's good.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Hey, I'm gonna get you out of here on this.
Tell me something. Now, you've taken over a few programs.
Now it's not your first. You know, I'm talking to
a lot of new coaches, but a lot of them
like you are new at the job, but some of
them are brand new, right, They've never been a head coach.
You've been a head coach a few different places, and
you won in these places. Okay, you take the teams
to the second round of playoffs a couple different places.

(19:11):
But what did Terrence Banks not know when he took
over at Green County, when he took her at Newton?
What did Terrence Banks not know that he knows today? Like,
what's something you're keeping in your mind constantly that you
feel like you maybe did wrong before? You definitely didn't
understand the other times you've taken over a job, but
now you're a veteran, you got this What comes to

(19:32):
mind when you hear me say that, I.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
Think you know kind of what I said earlier, Even
with actually my coaches today and them reassuring me it's
the process of it all. I think you cannot overstate
that you've got to take one brick, lay it down, perfect,
send it, and then put concrete on it in the

(19:54):
next brick perfect. And I think you look so far
down roll so And I think what I didn't know
then was I be honest with people. Now I have
not looked at any film on Meadow Creek, any film
on the Cula, any film on Lounges, any.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Film on Beuffrick.

Speaker 5 (20:17):
If I don't have centrical net where I think we
can be to compete at, looking at somebody else is meaningless.
And so I say that to say what I believe
now that I didn't definitely didn't know my first couple
of years. Is it is about us, and it is

(20:39):
about did we get one percent better? And if we
didn't get one percent better, how do we make that adjustment?

Speaker 4 (20:46):
So, you know, and I.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
Said it to say, Chris, we spring game scores don't matter, right,
So like I went through spring where my OC and
DC are head track coaches, and they took kids to stay.
So really I got them for what maybe the last
three days, you know, because they were in and out
for track.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
I had.

Speaker 5 (21:07):
Three of the coaches I hired who didn't work at
the school. One was still in Green County my office
a line coach at that. So we went through and
you look at the spring game film and you say, wow,
these are the things.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
We did really really really really really really good. These
are the things we got to work on, And then
you realize why you have to work on them.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
So I think just understanding the process, because like I
probably was, and I hope my kids don't think that
was normal after a spring game where on the score
we lost twenty four to seven, right, I didn't frown,
I wasn't upset. I wasn't oh woe is me dog?
What was happening? Because I understood where we were in
the process, and what I saw on film was better

(21:47):
from a lot of kids than what I saw the
first day of practice. And it's the expectation and standards.
So that's the one thing I think I know now
that I did not know then is being able to
look at each day and judge it on it on
a core and not be worried about the finish line.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
You know.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't have said it verbatim
that way, but I mean this, I would have answered that.
I would have answered that exact same way, like if
somebody asked me that if I was hypothetically taken over
a new team this year and somebody said, what did
you know now that you didn't know the other two times,
I would have said, like, really, just worry about this,
and you know, don't spend a bunch of time about

(22:28):
what they're doing or they're doing or film or you know,
just get better and and and when you're going well,
don't get excited about that either. You know, just play
to a standard and just kind of try to improve
and really enjoy the process of it. That's a lot
easier said than done, but it really is. I really
do feel like that's something that people that have done
it a while start figuring out. And so I hope

(22:51):
the young guys hear that and figured it out before
they get to the third job like me and that
made up story or you right, figure that out now
so you don't have to learn like we did. But
I appreciate you joining me, man. I always enjoy talking
to you, and I'm really pulling for you. I love
Larry Harrold there. I love you there. I mean, I

(23:12):
really think they can. They can do some good things there.
And a brutal schedule by the way, but I think,
but I know you can do it, and I know
that that place will grow with you in charge of it.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Man, Yes, sir, I appreciate it. Yeah, take care coke,
all right, cars, thank you.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
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zero four three night. Please be joined by the new
head coach at Dalton, Coach Chris Prutz, the coach, thanks

(24:31):
for joining me.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
I appreciate you having me on. I hope you joined good.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Man, So, Dalton one of the trade the state's tradition
richest programs, great place, but what made that the right
place to take a different job and move.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
And take that leap? Yeah, I mean, just like you said,
I think I think the first thing that stuck out is, uh,
I always call them consider myself like a little bit
of a high school football jump key. And you know,
obviously growing up knowing high school football in the city
of Georgia, Dalton is one that is always something that
I've known about and heard about. And you know, when

(25:10):
I was a when I was a graduate assistant, I
recruited the area a little bit, and yeah, you know,
I didn't really have a ton of information about it,
but kind of once I was approached with the opportunity,
you know, I kind of looked into it a little
bit and you know, I thought, I thought, all the
pieces are here for us to be successful at Dalton.

(25:30):
And I think I think the you know, the things
that I've just learned along the way is uh, you know,
you really you really worry about who's who's helping you
and whose assistant you day in and day out, and
you know that was that was something you know, the
O and ten was something I think people thought I
was staring at, but I was looking at everybody else

(25:51):
around that situation just to see if it would be
a good fit for for me and my family and
kind of the program that we want to run. And
you know, I think once I started looking into it,
you know, it kind of checked all the boxes. And
it's probably a good time for for for a reset,
like you're kind of talking about, and just taking on

(26:14):
a new challenge. Obviously, going from a program winning fifty
games and five years and being in the playoffs every
year and making deep runs, and you know, it was
I think it's good to kind of reset, and uh,
you know, that's been the it's been the fun part
about being a Dulton so far as like there's just
there's every opportunity for us to be successful. And obviously

(26:36):
Dalton's had a ton of success and it's hit a
little bit of a rough patch right now, so you know,
that's kind of been our our hope and my hope
and when taking over this place, obviously get it back
to where where it should be and get it back
to its winning ways, and and really that just starts
day in and day out, like we've been kind of
working at since January. So Dalton's obviously a special place

(26:59):
with a lot of history, and I think that's been
that's been the cool part is obviously hearing about the
community being involved in and now being there about five
six months now seeing it day in and day out,
and it's truly a community that's invested in that football program,
and that's been awesome to be a part of. It
is something that I appreciate and I can't wait to
see everybody there, you know, once it comes to fall,

(27:22):
you know, that's here. I hear all the great stories
about all the all the previous games and previous people
and previous players. So it'll be a cool experience to
get to experience that as a football fan, you know,
on Fridays in August.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I mean it's a school that went well nearly
sixty years without a louding the season. I mean, it's
for those that Darnin has maybe listening and Arn't is
familiar with what we're talking about, but from North Georgia
outside of the metro area, was really a standard for
a loan. I mean, nineteen sixty seventies eighties, nineties, two thousands,
all through there. So they do some cool things. I've

(27:58):
been over there one time. I love left with a loss,
you know, got sent home. So I'm owen one at
that stadium, great place, a lot of tradition though they
wear the red jacket still and all that, like it's
it's cool. So I guess maybe this is a tough question,
and maybe it's not, But I guess, how how do
you bring your own set of flare to something that's

(28:22):
so established, Like I went to the rest of Alabama?
So obviously they struggled between coach Bryant coach Saban figuring
out how to balance the tradition rich stuff with we
also got to embrace the new guy, you know. So
I don't know if that's a loaded question for you
right now or not, but or if you want to
tell me, but what, what's kind of your plans? You've

(28:44):
got to make it your team and you got to
embrace their stuff, right So it's a little different than
me taking over the O and ten team at Chapel
Hill in two thousand and whatever and just tell them
I didn't care what they did.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
We're doing it this way.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Now that so what why do you.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Now that is a that is a good question, you know,
and I think you know, as a coach, like that's
something you think about all the time. It's not something
that you think about once or twice and you don't
ever think about it again. So I would say the
biggest things that I've noticed, like we have a couple
of guys on our staff that have been here for
a little bit of time, you know. I think there's

(29:23):
a couple of guys on the staff that I've leaned
on a lot with that kind of stuff. And I
just flat out said, like, hey, man, like you got
to tell me, like if I'm if I'm messing this up,
like just just don't be afraid to call me out
on it and tell me. And they've been really they've
been really good about things, you know. And I've I've
had a lot of people in the community I've been

(29:43):
fortunate enough to talk with, and you can tell those
you can tell those things that are almost like non
negotiable things to not even touch and talk about. And
you can tell there's some that you know, I think
there people would be fine with after they experienced the
chain angel whatnot. It's been funny you know, we a
couple of guys and our staff and I we were

(30:04):
kind of looking back. We're trying to create this like
wall of history in our field house, and we were
looking back and some of the things that you think
are like seven Stone traditions, it's really been there for
twenty years, thirty years, you know, it's not been It's
not been something that's been there forever and ever and ever.
So yeah, I think everybody's going to have a little
different spin on it. I think probably the best thing.

(30:28):
And I don't know, I don't know who I heard
this from exactly, but as you know, coaching is stealing
other people ideas and kind of turning your own. You know,
when I got there in January, I probably it was
probably two weeks. I don't think I spoke too many words.
I talked to talk to kids and talk to people,
and I just wanted to be a fly on the
wall and kind of see how things operated, you know,

(30:49):
kind of made my notes along the way and just
said like, hey, you know, once once we kind of
get this thing going, here's how this is going to operate.
Here's how that's going to operate. And you know, an underrated,
under stated thing that you know, nobody kind of prepared
me for. You know, you've been at one place for
eight years. I mean you don't even know where, what
time you got to be at, places, where to go,
what door to go in, how to get in, you know,

(31:10):
where do you go for this period? Where? How do
you go to lunch? Where?

Speaker 4 (31:14):
You know?

Speaker 3 (31:14):
What the kids? What's the kids schedule? You're just so
used to what you've been in for eight years. So yeah,
I mean I think you everybody's going to have their
own little things and what I've kind of told people,
you know, it was a unique opportunity this year to
take over because last year was team one hundredth anniversary
of Dalton Football, and I said, you know, whether that's

(31:36):
poetic or not, I don't know. But now we're in
a new century and they'll send me some new things
that come on and at the end of the day,
the football may look different, but you're gonna have the
same fundamentals that are going to win and lose games.
I said, the outside part. Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm
a different person than the previous head coach. I'm different
than two head coaches ago, and so it'll it'll look

(31:57):
different it may, it may, it may look a little
different on the field or off the field, But to
your point, there's some of those traditions like the red jackets,
you know. I think my first initial thought was, you know,
I don't understand it. I don't get it. And I
had a couple of people sit me down over lunch
and explain the tradition. I get. You know, that's pretty
freaking sweet, Like it's a it's a cool it's a

(32:18):
cool tradition. You know, everybody, everybody wants to look the
same on a Friday, and it's a cool tradition that
many people in the community. Obviously it's a big part
of and even some of our players you can tell
they were asking about it, and you know, you're you
got to me. When you have a team full of
fourteen to eighteen year olds, sometimes there's things that go

(32:39):
on and they don't have any sort of idea why.
And in this generation, you better have a reason why
you're doing something, and it better be a better be
something that you can at least speak on, and you
know that's that'll be the cool part. I think we've
got a couple of speakers that are going to come
in and kind of talk about certain things and the
way we do certain certain things. And I think that's
the cool part, like it at a play like Dalton,

(33:00):
you know, I don't know it was I tell people
all the time, I wasn't I wasn't lucky enough to
meet coach Chapel, But I feel like I've heard so
many great stories of his and how the team handled themselves,
you know, and that was that was something that you know,
I want our kids to hear about. You know, they
don't as you know, like kids today, like they don't
know teams ten years ago so much less thirty forty

(33:23):
years ago. And it's although we can embrace the past,
we don't have to live in the past. You know.
We're we're the one hundreds first version of this team
in this program. So we're going to be different. We
have to be because we don't have the same people
we had twenty years ago. And so that's been my point.
We've always we've always hit on our program is different

(33:45):
every single year, and this year is no different than that.
So this team's got to create a legacy and a
story of its own, and it's going to be different
than the last year's team is going to be different
than three years ago team, it'll be different two years
from now. So just being really really intentional on like
whatever our team wants, that's what we're going to try

(34:05):
to do. And you know, we really try to hone in. Obviously,
there's some things that are going to be, like I said,
non negotiable. Some of those things you're going to change
your inn year out because of the kids you have
on your team. And I think that's our kids have
an investment in our program, and that's what I think
ultimately keeps them invested and keeps them one to play. Yeah,

(34:25):
coach for what it's worth.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
I mean, I think I wouldn't have any idea i'd
answer that question, So I don't know if I should
tell you, But I think that it's okay to do
some different things too and embrace the tradition that like everything,
there's a balance in life to both. And I think
you know you wouldn't have if they wanted they hired you
knowing you came from Roswell. Now, look, Roswell got some

(34:47):
tradition too. You didn't leave the place with no tradition
is actually very much the opposite. Roswell's a great place
long history. You embraced that, took it further. I saw
you do it. I think it's a great hire. But
they hired you, so you got.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
To be you.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
You know, I think that they want you to be you.
If they didn't want you, they would I hired you.
So I think that's a mistake too. Sometimes people tiptoeing
through being themselves. So you really got to balance being
yourself and what you believe in doing. And of course
pick your battles. For God's sake, some stuff's not worth
fighting about. So that's been there to help you with that.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah, And that's honestly, you know, that's we've kind of
as you know, you got to compartmentalize your your fights
and some years in some years aren't worth fighting certain battles.
And you know, one of the you you mentioned that
one of the books that I really I don't read
a ton of books, but I do real a lot
of coaching books because I think there I always think

(35:42):
it's interesting to hear how people do things. And one
of my favorite ones was Pete Carroll's book. And that
was a big takeaway I took from that is, you know,
I don't even think I to be honest, I don't
think I'll play attention to football. When he was the
new England Patriots head coach, and you know, when when
he fired, he realized he didn't do it or he
wasn't doing it his way, and he said, the next

(36:06):
job he takes over, he's going to do it exactly
the way he wants it and exactly the way he
knows how to do it. And that's a piece of
advice I took when I took the Roswald job. I said,
you know, let's be real, I don't I don't know everything,
and I'm never going to know everything. I just need
to do it my way, and you know, get everybody
on board, and you know, the chips will fall where

(36:27):
they will. And I think I think even being honest
with our team and our players, I would be upfront
with them all the time, be like, hey man, I
don't I don't have all the answers for you, but like,
let's sit down and work it together and we'll figure
it out, you know. And I think in today's world,
I think people respect that a little bit more, you know.
And I think I'm the first one to tell people

(36:48):
and our players, coaches, teachers, anybody. I don't have all
the answers, but like, maybe I can go find it
and I'll go figure it out. And you know, I
think having your kids understand like you are who you
are and you're not going to change because of the circumstances,
I think that's huge. They know exactly who they're getting
every single day, and that's important.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Consistency is critical, and I mean obviously consistent performance, but
consistent attitude because I mean it's so critical. Coach, you know,
you go to Roswell, you won a lot of games,
did a great job there. Now you're taking over a
second program. What did you learn along the way that
you wish you knew when you took the Roswell job? Like,

(37:28):
what's something now the second time you're like, yeah, that's
something I didn't know then, but now I understand this.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Yeah, I think, you know. The first thing that came
to my mind was just like how to handle how
did I joke with like even kids and staff, how
to treat how to handle and delegate adults.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
I think that's been the biggest thing. So they're much
much more volatile group for success truthfully.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
And yeah, I think I think I was probably horrible.
My first year as a coach is just handling different situations,
and you know, I've obviously made made mistakes along the way,
just like anybody has. And you know, looking back now,
I think that's that's probably the thing I try to
I try to spearhead now and just go directly to people.

(38:17):
You know, I think I was probably horrible when I
first took over, and you know I knew, you know,
if you knew certain conversations should take place, and maybe
you didn't want to or maybe you try to avoid
it as long as possible. Now it's just, you know,
we got to have it and we hash it out
and everything's better, you know, once we get it done.
You know, when you hire people and letting them work

(38:38):
and trying to coach and teach them along the way
has been something I've learned. You know, that was even
when I was a coordinator. I think I learned that
pretty quickly. Like if I'm going to hire and have
somebody coach to d line, it ain't gonna be perfect
every second of every day, or at least how I
want it done. So you know, teaching them and coaching

(38:58):
them up along the way was something I learned really
early on, and the same way as being a head coach.
You know, you hire a special teams coordinator, you don't
need to go pester them all all day and night
about certain things. You know, we can talk about it
along the way, but you want to let him do
his job and let him come up with the ideas

(39:19):
and take ownership of that team like it's his own.
And you know, same way with whatever whatever position you're coaching.
I think, again, like I said, I think I was
pretty bad at that initially, because again I come from
a I was a graduate assistant for two years and
really it was like, hey, if it needs to be done,
you get it done. And that's that's kind of how

(39:41):
I was for the early part of my career. And now,
you know, obviously try to delegate as much as I
can because there's there's enough to do as a head
coach that's not football oriented, that takes most of your
time up now, So being able to delegate is huge
for my sanity. But ever, nobody else's saying me along
the way.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
I get that coach, I mean, that is a great
that's the great answer.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
That's a great answer.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
The coach.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
I mean, I think the same thing I think I
put out sometimes that you know, most coaches go from
assistant or coordinator to head coach because they were good
with players, Like you got your reputation because you were
good with players, then you get this head job, and
really your success probably rises or falls over a five year.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Period or three year period.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
I'm not saying I know immediately, but how quickly you
figure out how I deal with these adults? And I
don't mean it, and it may be some of your
best friends. I just mean they're not kids. The assistant coaches,
the other sports coaches, the parents obviously, but the administrators.
All these adults that you encounter in today are really
going to determine if you end up having a successful

(40:51):
run at this head job you just got. And you
didn't do anything with these adults to get that job.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (40:58):
Like then you got that job because how good you
were with the kids, Then you get this head job,
and you got to stay good with the kids, But
you better if you're out these adults pretty quick. And
I think that's an honest answer. And I think that
most people, if they're really being honest or probably gonna
have a similar answer, you know, And that's why getting
that second third job sometimes a head coaches really when

(41:18):
you as a coach, for like you're reaching that ceiling
or maximum potentially Alison wins that are you getting as
good as you can be?

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Anyway?

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Tell me about your team this year, coach, somebody's hearing
me talk about that. Tell me about your team at
Dalton this year. What do you like about them so far?

Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah, it's been It's been a fun transition. You know,
we went obviously had spring ball and I was pleased
with how things went. You know, we're we're in a
somewhat of a state of transition, kind of both sides
of the ball, to be honest, like we were Dalton
last year was a started out as kind of a
huddle up wing tea operation and you know, I think

(41:55):
at Roswell our goal was to snap it every fifteen seconds.
So definitely a little bit of a transition offensively, defensively,
was was a lot of a lot of different things
as well, just moving to a probably a simpler scheme
to try to get our kids just to play faster

(42:15):
and play better. But the team itself, like we I
think to give you an idea obviously, Oh and ten
doesn't doesn't bode well for a lot of a lot
of a lot of things. But I was told the
team the first time I met them, you know, obviously,
oh and ten is what it is. And you know,
if you guys try to run from it from a year,

(42:36):
you won't actually get over it, and you'll never kind
of accept it and move on. I said, Now with
that being said, the first I watched game one, in
game ten, I said, the proudest part and the thing
where I knew we were going to have some success was,
you know, I turned on Game ten. You guys come
out and you're up ten to nothing in the first quarter,
and so it's very easy for you to pack it

(42:57):
in and be done with it, you know, when you
guys came out and played well, played hard and didn't finish,
but you end up playing well the whole time. So
I was excited. You know, they ended up, I think
last year, starting nine or ten freshmen in the last
game of the year. You know, So we're we're we're young,
We're a young group with a lot of experience. You know,

(43:20):
I think we I think we had the pieces that
are going to be really really successful. I think, like
any year we're gonna have to We're gonna have to
make some mistakes and on Fridays to really get over
some humps. And I I think one of the best
talks I heard was this was the spring from Brent
Key and I think when they when they lost the

(43:41):
Georgia game last year. So I think his high school
coach called him and said, you know, you got to
you got to push that last bit of losing out
of you to you finally get over that hump. And
I've tried to. I've tried to tell our staff, like
there's going to be a game that we're not going
to play very well, and it's we gotta we got
to push them past that last little bit of of
last year. And you know, we've been up We've been

(44:04):
very upfront about it. And told him after the spring
game this year, like twenty twenty four is buried, is done.
I said, if we need to have a little ceremony
in the parking lot and burn a burn a shirt
from last year or whatever, like, we need to. You
need to put that thing in the past and and
move on. You know, we we put a really good
trying program in the spring, and I thought we did

(44:25):
really well, and you know, did I thought did pretty
well for for having eight basically eight or nine practices
to install a new offense and a new defense. I'm excited.
We got got a good young sophomore quarterback. We've got
a couple of good receiving threats, a slot receiver that
I think is going to be a highlight machine for

(44:45):
the year uh coming up. And I'm excited. We got
a lot of good defensive talent, a lot of young
a lot of young sophomore and junior type kids. So
you know, we've I think when we when I took over,
I think we had about eight seniors on the foster
and we've up to that to about seventeen. So we've
got it. We've got We're getting the we're getting the

(45:06):
excitement back and playing football and being a part of
our program. And I think that's been a big A
big factor is we've been able to get some kids
that didn't play last year for other sports and just
working through some of those dual sport athletes. I think
I think we've gotten two baseball kids that didn't play
last year. We've getting two basketball kids that didn't play

(45:27):
last year, and you know, and hadn't had to recruit
the hallways or Roswell too often. But we've been We've
hit the we've hit the school hard this year and
tried to get a bunch of kids. And that's what
I really been pitching the whole time, is, you know,
being a part of region championships. I know we need
a lot of good players. I don't know what that

(45:48):
looks like. I don't where you're gonna play. I don't
know how much you're gonna play. I don't know if
you're gonna play. But we need you in the program
and we need you around to contay to be a
better athlete. And you know, if it's continuing to make
you better for your sport that you really want and
football is a part of that, then I'm fine with that.
But just come out and make sure you're part of
what we're doing because it's going to be special and
it's going to be good. I'm excited. I think I

(46:11):
think people will be pleasantly surprised from watching US in
November last year to August of this year. Got a
good schedule, good people around us. I think to out
the first four games are against North Flkoni and Cartersville.
So we'll we'll figure out if we're if we can
if we can do a complete a pass and tackle
people really tough. I looked it's pretty tough.

Speaker 4 (46:36):
It'll be good.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
It'll be a good test. You know, that region's regions
pretty strong, and you know, I think they had a decent,
decent amount of success two years ago in the playoffs
with that region. I don't think last year. I think
they matched up with a with a tough region last
year early and I think I think they went one
and three or two and two or something like that.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
But no, it's a tough schedule, but you guys got
a good team. I mean, Dalton's one of the teams
that years. You know, it wasn't long ago you saw
them on your schedule and said, yeah, you know, tough regent,
tough schedule, you know. So you know, I think that's
what you see. And of course these things change every
other year now, so you don't know what region you'll
be in forever. But uh, this react carters Will Attitude

(47:19):
and even Altuna and hire them cast I mean, Cedar
Town all great programs. So I'm excited to see what
you guys can do there. Tell me about wore. I
get you out here, tell me about.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
Your coaching staff, who you were auple to bring or
who you're able to keep, and and I get out
I think, yeah, I think, you know, probably the biggest
one we had all season or oc from Roswell came
up here. Coach Carlisle has been with me for five
years at Roswell since I took over there, and you know,
kind of I was glad to get him on board.

(47:48):
And you know, it was obviously a big part of
what we did on at Roswell.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Score a lot of points, and you know that's hopefully
in the name of the game. Again, it's just we've
got to you know, score points and stop people from scoring.
That was that was the goal. It was a good Yeah.
I was excited that he I was excited that he
was on board and wanted to join us. You know,
he's he I try not to brag on him too
much because I don't want anybody else to hear about him,

(48:15):
but I think it's obviously wor. He works his butt
off and I think does an outstanding job of getting
our kids in a good position to make plays and
you know, they hit. It's funny coming back from the
from the dead week. I think some of our kids
are receivers. And again, you got to imagine they've been
in the wing tea for a year, so now they're

(48:36):
coming back and there, Man, I actually remember all this stuff,
like I remember all the plays and and I told him,
I said, that's the difference, you know sometimes in like
you teach plays versus we're coaching you on certain plays
or certain routes or something like that. So I think
that's the best part. I think offensively, we had we
had a couple of guys hold over from the previous staff.

(48:57):
Paul Bennett was an incredible coach, tight ends coach for US,
played a Dulton played at Auburn. Helps out in our
weight room. Be able to bring in a couple of guys.
I'm really excited about the receiver position. I think we
got a really good coach there. Defensively, we we kept
we kept I think two guys on from the staff there,

(49:20):
but we brought in a couple of new guys, a
couple of younger guys. Again, I think d line coach
coach Fuller is going to do a really good job.
I like I like our DV situation with the coach
Floyd who was there on staff. Coach Hernandez was a
kid I actually recruit, I actually helped recruit when I
was at Lagrange, actually played at North Murray and and

(49:41):
we were able to bring him over here from Calhoun.
So I was excited to get him. I've been I
think he would even admit I've been trying to recruit
him to a staff for a couple of years. So
when I got closer to him, I was super excited
to get him on board. And you know, I think
I think the best part about this is just being
able to really look at a program from sixth, seventh,

(50:01):
eighth all the way up to our our level. And
I think that's been the coolest part. You know, spent
spend an hour today with like forty seventh and eighth
graders just trying to work and get them to work
out and work and learn those guys. And as you know,
it's really cool when you when you can see those
kids grow over time, and you know you don't have
to worry about them leaving and going somewhere else, and
you can you can spend time and invest in them

(50:23):
and develop them. And coach Coach Woods does a great
job with our middle school program and he gets those
guys ready, and like I told him, I said, well,
well I'll pull our end of the bargain now and
make sure that we get those guys. And it's just
a continued success, you know, all the way from sixth
grade all the way up to where we are for
the high school. So I'm excited and looking forward to,

(50:43):
you know, getting this thing back rolling right and building
it up and making making sure we got teams that
can move on and go on and on and on
as as long as we can every year. Right, that
was the goal a couple of years ago. Is win
one more than the last year. So just got us
start somewhere right, start there.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah, coach, I think it was a great hire.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I think it'll do a good job.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
You know, my friends are superintendent there and I'm pulling
for you.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Man.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
I think you're gonna do a great job. If I
can help you in anyway, let me know.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
No, I appreciate it, and thank you what you do
for high school football so awesome. I appreciate it. Thanks
coach seeing it.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Yeah, I'm please be joined this time by the new
coach at Urban County.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Coach Larry Harrold coach. Thanks for joining me friends. How
you doing, buddy.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Man, I'm doing great, but not as good as you
taking over such a good team. Why why Urban County?
Why not?

Speaker 2 (51:45):
No, it's a place that.

Speaker 7 (51:48):
Just really Chris, when I looked at my career, I've
enjoyed my time in the Metro, but just really wanting
a chance to get back to down South football, where
football is important, where the communities invested and all the
resources and community support of big geared towards developing these

(52:12):
young men and making every county football the best.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
It could be.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Absolutely, coach, what have you seen so far with your
team since you've been down there?

Speaker 5 (52:22):
Man?

Speaker 7 (52:23):
A lot of young talent, So you know they've had
the greatest stretch run in the last twelve years. They've
been to twelve at these quarterfinals. Then I think like
five state championships one two of them, and then last
year they went twelve to two, lost a semi final
and eventual state champion bout. But off that team they
lost twenty five seniors. Chris, so a lot of grit.

(52:47):
We got a lot of kids that are good athletes,
but they just that they don't have to play in experiences,
So it's kind of exciting getting in there trying to
implement our new schemes and new way of lifting weights
and just a bunch of new things to try to
get a gouty tradition.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
To keep it going away that that that they used
to the customed to doing. Absolutely, because what do you think.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
We think it's gonna really matter as you go through
the season in the smaller classification different than where you've
been in such quad. You've been at both, you've been
in big schools, you've been in small school but what
do you think is gonna really matter here? Is it's
maybe different than what you had in the big metro school.

Speaker 7 (53:37):
Depth right now, you know, you're trying to build depth
first of all on the scrimmage. Like I said, when
you lose twenty five Sea, you got a two D
one kids one South Georgia Southern O South that though
it could bit off of the D line, you had
a school of linebackers. You know, the whole old line
you know was maybe six three, three hundred plus pounds,

(53:57):
So you lost some good kids.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
From now you are trying to build depth on the
lisis primage. You're trying to.

Speaker 7 (54:06):
Amble to been some new schemes then I used to,
and basically just stay healthy. Chris, you know one thing
about smaller classifications. You know that if you pretty much
have three or four good players, you're gonna have a chance.
And so if you keep those guys healthy, if you
get blocked, if you're gonna run and you could tackle,
you ought.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
To be in pretty good shape.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Becase it's been a really good, like you said, a
really good run of success there, you know, for the
last well, I guess about fifteen years. What do you
think's been since you're not You weren't there, you were
at other places, But from the outside now looking in,
what do you think has been the key to that success?
So they've been through three or four different coaches in
that time and been fairly successful. So what makes Irwin

(54:50):
County such a good place in the last ten or
fifteen years.

Speaker 7 (54:54):
I'm glad you asked that, Chris. I just told the kids,
I said, the reason why so many people want this
job up and they won't. So many people applied. It's
not about the x's and oh's, we know, Chris, It's
about the jimmies.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
Have had some jimmies and Jose they've had some.

Speaker 7 (55:13):
Is those kids come back and work out and I'm like, oh,
like I met DJ Lundy, he comes to works out
every day.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Uh. You know you got the Ben Yard boys, that
all right Knnisas State.

Speaker 7 (55:24):
Uh, you got kids that Kit Carson Newman, you got
and all these kids just come back and work out.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
You like y'all were on football Like it's.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Like it's my lord.

Speaker 7 (55:38):
Even the guys from last year, Like, you know, you
had Luke Snyder, he was a quarterback. The King was
sixty three, probably fifteen twenty pounds out of.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
One day school. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, you
know you.

Speaker 7 (55:50):
Had Shane Marshall, you know, probably about six foot, two
hundred and twenty five pound running back signed with Georgia Tech.
And so you know just that traditional athletes. Man what
every day eating and drinking down there, O Silla.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Athlete. That's the sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
I hope for your sake they got some brothers or
cousins and some more people coming.

Speaker 7 (56:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
I tell you something, you do learn the longer you
coach is for real, all those cliches are true. Man,
you better get some better players if you want to
have a team. So the coaches are good and the
coach definitely matters. But the best teams have good players.
So coach, I watched Brooks County and Irwin play I
don't remember about five or six years ago, and that

(56:38):
was not single a football baby. There were some people
getting after it on both sides. What tell me a
little about your coaching staff, who you been out to
bring or keep or anybody you can tell me about
that brag on those guys a little bit.

Speaker 7 (56:51):
So the first guy I brought with me was at
Central when that with me goes Marshall Hayes. He's uh,
you know, one of year event and college football coach
at Graham in Texas, southern Delaware state, all over, and
I asked him to come to uh Georgia to the
high school to help me out. He's a weight room,
road line coach, one of the best in the business.

(57:12):
He decided to come those silver with me, and then
we were able to get Terrell Tumor from Moultrie. He's
been a d line coach the last couple of years
and he actually took over for me, not took over me,
but Hugh Deepest Quarter at Mackon County. A couple of
years after I left. I've always followed him. All was
a mat work. He's taking up defensive. We're still trying

(57:32):
to piece together one or two more guys. We try
to add uh and a lot of other guys to
hold her from the last step. But those two guys
with me kindicle and critical and key to what we're
trying to build on our offensive line and trying to
build up a stout defense that that you know, I
would get me proud of.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
What what's something you've been working on this off season
with you, whether it's offense, defense, special teams, what's something
at the end of life last year, I know you're
another school, but in last year and you say, hey,
this off season, I gotta I gotta get a little
more information or learn a little more about what.

Speaker 7 (58:08):
The biggest thing is, getting back to the basics. A
lot of times we all had these conversations, Chris Man.
You know, we're dealing with a new breeding kid, but
at the same time, there's still kids, and so there's
things that that I can do with these players in

(58:29):
South Georgia I couldn't do in the Metro and vice
a versa.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
You know what I'm saying, You know, I'm able to
push these kids a little bit harder. I'm able to uh, you.

Speaker 7 (58:41):
Know, have Sunday meetings and things that I probably could
add while I was in the metro.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Uh And so, like I said, just being able to
do something. He was a community. You know, I did
red Dawn this morning this summer, you know, with the
kids that show up at five point thirty for workouts.

Speaker 7 (58:58):
I couldn't do that in the Metro. It's gonna be
already those kids there. When I tell you I had
all hands on that, you know, talking about every day
forty five or kids showing up at five thirty the
morning ready to go to work. That's I'm just old
school christ And I realize that like I'm old school,
I'm old fashioned, and just some of that stuff doesn't
translate to the metro area for Paris reasons, as you know,

(59:21):
but just that old school heart hotality, you know, South Georgia. Man,
they love those kids love, they love to work, and
the pride to tradition of being winners is something like
I've never seen.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
And so they expect to win.

Speaker 7 (59:35):
The community expects to put out a good product, and
they show up the work like that every day.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's exactly right, coach, And every
place is a little different. But you know, I applaud
you for I think take on the expectations.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Even if you lose.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Twenty five seniors, be glad to be at a place
where they expect to win, because what you're gonna get
is those kind of things. You know, people expect to win.
That comes with a lot of negatives. That comes with
a lot more positives. Man, it comes with a lot
more positives. And I think that's what you're going to
see there. Talk to me a little bit about recruiting.
I like talking about college stuff because I know you
worked in college a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
How different is it and what advice do you have
for anybody listening to this as a coach trying to
do the best they can to get their kids recruited.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
I mean, it's different than it's ever been. I think
that's why I asked that.

Speaker 7 (01:00:24):
Yeah, so so before they move on, do you want
to want to add it to be you know, it's
important When like my coach Hayines was telling me his money,
he's like coach, it's superintendent at at the principle was
that practice morning?

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
You know, what I'm you know it's important. Yeah, you
want to be a place like that, right, you want
to be in a place like that. You know that
it's important.

Speaker 7 (01:00:45):
Christas June and people are still worried about football. So
as far as the corup recruit has changed so much,
man and I am the tread for reporter, totally destroyed.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
Kind of recruiting.

Speaker 7 (01:01:00):
The thing that I want to say is like a
lot of the kids are going to mercer camps and
they going all these different camps and these mega camps.
And what has happened is a lot of these mega
camps because you and I both know hope i'm'll bust
up early bubble, but they're starting to become.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
Fundraisers for those.

Speaker 7 (01:01:15):
They're not sending the top of sister's sending gas and
analysts out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
To collect these kids money and it's really hard to
be seen.

Speaker 7 (01:01:23):
The thing that I will tell these kids is stop
worrying about everybody can't go to Georgia, everybody can't go
to Alabama.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Go to these D two, D three, n I A schools.

Speaker 7 (01:01:34):
Go on in camp to show out because these are
the kids that these are the schools coach that are
still recruiting high school kids. A lot of these other
places with's fight. I take cod We're not recruiting the
high school kids no more. They're only doing porter recruiting,
you know what I'm saying. And so stop wasting your
time and your money because of money grab going to
these mega camps.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
And these big schools.

Speaker 7 (01:01:55):
You know, if you're if you're a D one Avenue,
nobody have to tell you if you can.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
Play at those schools. Trust's right, it will show up.

Speaker 7 (01:02:02):
But for the average kid, I would take it to
you a D two, D three school, and so many
of them are in Georgia. You know, go to August,
they go to Fort Valley, go to Shore, and go
to ryan Hart, to those camps where the actually gonna
give you a chance at opportunity because at the end
of the day, because that's who those kids have opportunity
to go. There are so many kids and other stories
are where these smaller schools are becoming almost like junior colleges.

(01:02:26):
So you go there, you do a good job, Chris,
if you get good feeling, what's gonna happen. I've heard
of kids going from ryan Hart to dog On Georgia
or going from Ryan Hart to old Missus.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
So you know what I'm saying. So it doesn't matter
the level anymore. Use that level as well. If you
feel like you're underrecruited, go in there and do the
best job you could do, and in a couple of
years you can go and be recruited to a bigger
school that you think you're more deserving of. That's actually
good advice.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
I mean, I've got you know, in one way, you
have less options because of the transfer portal and all
that stuff. But if you look at it the other way,
you have a better option than a kid fifteen or
twenty years ago that maybe went the NAI route or
went the Division two route. They didn't have an option
to end up at a big time school. You do now,
So you bet on yourself. Go somewhere you can play

(01:03:17):
and bet on yourself. I mean, you're seeing guys in
the NFL Draft this year that maybe they were coming
from Miami or you know, maybe they're comfortm Ohio State
or wherever, but they didn't start there. You know, they
have started at a small school and then they ended
up there. Now they're in an NFL. So yeah, I
mean that it's all about perspective, like everything else right,
I'll get you out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
On this coach, what advice does you know with the.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Thirteen fourteen year ago coach Harold that started out at
Making County.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
What did he not know that? Now you know taking over.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
A program is critical. What advice do you wish you
knew back then? Now you know when you come into
a new program first.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
That's a great question.

Speaker 7 (01:04:09):
My home wasn't built in a day when I took
over Macon County member it was one in nine.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
You know, one of the worst.

Speaker 7 (01:04:17):
Jobs ever, all this stuff, and it's like I try
to do everything every day to get it changed.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
And I used to go home literally eleven twelve o'clock
at night.

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
Crash.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
I was thirty years old, then I was young.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
I was vibrate.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Now forty six, Chris coach Erroll can't do that. No
more is done is done that day.

Speaker 7 (01:04:38):
Look, by the end of the day, I'm going home
to my kids and we'll attack it again the next day.
And just being able to base myself because that's how
so many coaches get burnt down. You got so many
coaches man that are coaching retirement, that want to stay
but you know, with so much stuff going on, you know,
the different kids and things of that day, and like
I say, you know, and I hope I'll wut nobody wrong.
It's not the kids, it's more so the parents, and

(01:05:00):
that would allow our kids to be raised and so
in that in that stance, in that point, man, I've
just learned these kids didn't get like this or whatever's wrong,
didn't get like this overnight.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
And I'm not gonna be the one to change it.
I'm not a miracle worker. I'm not gonna turn more
into wine and that you're gonna take.

Speaker 7 (01:05:18):
It's gonna It's taught me to face myself, Like so
much has happened throughout my career, I just realized.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Like those we get better.

Speaker 7 (01:05:26):
I hear people say the coach all the time, one
percent better every day, and I've had to take on
that mantra, like really one percent every day, because you know,
you can really break yourself out if you try to
always tell people don't look at the whole mountain, look
at the bottom and every ding you comps, look at it,
you know, saying a little about a little bit of
that amount if you look at the whole mount Chris,

(01:05:46):
that's very intimidating.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
And that's like you get people that just throw their
hands you know what.

Speaker 7 (01:05:51):
I don't want to be an educational more so just
look at the small part of mountain and work your
way up every day. And that's my biggest sadvice man,
because you know it's it's a challenge, you know, like
you said, with the expectations take it over a program.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
But this place summer thing, that cat is not even funny.

Speaker 7 (01:06:09):
You know, they just taking over a program with twelve
or two last year, that program that wanted nine.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
They had changed expectation.

Speaker 7 (01:06:18):
But you know, I always say Kirby Smart who says,
you know, pressures and Cliff, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
That's right, coach.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Well, I appreciate you, uh appreciate taking some time to
talk to me and my man and we'll see you soon.