282. Georgia New Hires, Part 5: Thompson, Fominaya, Gowan

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:

• Jonathan Thompson, new Head Coach at Roswell
• Pete Fominaya, new Head Coach at Sprayberry
• Marcus Gowan, new Head Coach at Gordon Central

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hey, welcome back to the Parker Resource Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
As always, I'm not Michael Parker, but you know Chris
by himself. Without Michael and Chad who you know are
so busy that they can't be here, but they will
be back. And this summer we're playing a lot of
interviews that we did with coaches that are new in
the state of Georgia. So we got some coaches who
are first time head coaches. We got guys who've been

(01:29):
head coaches before. We got guys who had great seasons
last year somewhere else and now are at a new
place and everything in between, and great to talk to
them about their journeys.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
And this is gonna be the last one of these episodes.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Moving to a different topic coming up after this. Happy
for it to July to everybody. Hope you enjoying the summer,
and hope you enjoy these Today. We got coach Jonathan Thompson,
new coach at Roswell coming over to the office corner
from Lee County. We've got coach Pete Fomanaya, going to
great season last year at Hire Them moving over to Sprayberry,
head coach at both places, so he's going.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
From head job to head job.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
And then we got Marcus Gallen, the head coach at
Gordon Central who's coming off of a great career as
an assistant coach at Valdosta. So going from South Georgia
to North Georgia and going from one of the most
successful programs in the State of Georgia's history, maybe the
most Valdosta to a place that has not had a
long traditional winning and so excited to talk to all
three of these guys about their situations what led them there,

(02:27):
and I.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Really hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So have a good summer everyone when we get back,
the whole band back together doing some more topics coming.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Up next time.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Joining this time by the new head coach at Roswell,
Coach Johnathan Thompson.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Coach, thanks for joining me.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yes, sir, coach man, you're the office credit Lee County
for those that didn't know you're coming to Roswell. When
you're the place like Lee County, you win a lot
of games, You're around a lot.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Of good people, you see it done the right way,
you get opportunities.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
What made Roswell the opportunity for you to move up
into that head coach roll?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
That's a great question.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Obviously it's come up a lot.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
You know, since we moved up here in February, Lee
counted a special place for us for six years. Couldn't
work for a better head coach and a better community.
I had never applied to be a head coach in
my life, man, and really just enjoyed Lee County at
the place it was or the place that it is.
I enjoyed calling plays and being around those kids that
were down there. And you know, when our season ended

(03:34):
unfortunately in the semi finals against Milton this year, I
really just.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Was excited about the new group that we had coming back.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
And I kind of talked to some guys at the
lunch table one day and you saw the man, the
Roswell jobs open. And I can remember going to Thomasville
and watching them play in the quarters against TCC two
years prior. And you know, I watched them play that
game that night and I thought, man, they played a
brand of football that I could get behind. I thought

(04:02):
the kids played the game the right way, the coaches
did a great job, the community was behind it. So
I started doing a little research and I kind of started,
you know, digging, and told my wife, look, this place
has been highly successful, probably you know, just thinking about
throwing my hat in the ring and seeing what happens.
And it was crazy how fast it all went down,
man Like. It wasn't until early January. I sent a

(04:23):
resume to the ad here, and you know that on
that phone call or after sending it, it seemed like an
hour later, I got a phone call and they asked
me to come interview and the rest is kind of history,
and you know, I just needed my wife to see it, and.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
We fell in love with it.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
And we were obviously, you know, going from South Georgia
all the way up to Roswell, you think of Atlanta,
and you know when we got here, I just I
didn't get the Atlanta vibe. I was expecting to hear
a bunch of horns honking and see big buildings, and
I immediately felt like I was in a small knit
community that could get behind football.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
And I knew that there was.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
A lot of tradition here over the seventy six years
that they've been playing football and one nine eight games
the past ten years. So I think that just from
you know, seeing how successful they were over the course
of time, and then the community feel and the support
that this place had with the administration that was coming
in with a new principal, the athletic director coach Ben
Suiter is phenomenal and doctor Morrisey the principle. They sold

(05:17):
me and then they sold my wife on the community itself.
So you know, once they offered the job, we were
excited about it. And it's been a great decision. It's
been a phenomenal three months. It's been almost four months now.
You know, being away from my family early on was tough,
but you know, now we're.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
All back together.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
They get the gangs back together again, and we've settled
up here and.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
We couldn't be happier.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
So it was hard to leave a special community like
Lee and the special.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
People that are there.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
But I do know that the Good Lord had a
plan for us and we're at the right place, and
this place has got a lot of great people and
community feel as well.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, man, you're right about that.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Rossell was a great place, man, great place. I'm familiar
with it. It is a great place to live, great community.
They got a good football program and they have for
a long time, and there's a lot of good programs
in that area. It is going to be different than
anything in South Georgia, but it doesn't have to be.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
It's not the city what you're thinking.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Like you said, coach, I get to talk to a
bunch of different people this time here. I like doing
this for me as much as whoever's listening, because it's
fun to talk to guys who've changed jobs. You know,
they were the head coach last year at a really
successful place. They got that opportunity to take that into
another head job, right, Or they were a head job

(06:34):
that ed job years ago, it didn't work out, they
went to be an assistant, now they're back.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Or they took over.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
They were the offense quarter last year at the same place,
now they took over. Right, You're in a rare category
of the people that when you see all these posts
or anything that I put out, Look, I don't act
like I know everything.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Actually most of the stuff I know, I messed up.
That's why I know.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
I'm telling you right now the best category to be
in is yours. And I hope people hear this. You
go be a coach at a good place. You be
the ninth grade coach, the guide that lines the field whatever,
at a good place. You go work for Dean Fabrizio,
or you go work for some.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
People like that.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Then you go to be a head coach at a
place that can be successful. And my man, you did both.
So first hats off to you for I mean, it
doesn't work that way for everybody I know.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
You know, you're fortunate.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Everybody tried to do that didn't work out that way.
But I am I want to highlight for just a minute,
and I'll.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Get back to asking questions how significantly it is.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
It is to me anyway that people go be good
coaches at good programs, go learn from a really good
coach when the situation presents itself, to go to a
really good job, leave and take the job, no doubt,
and the other stuff just kind of wake because sometimes
you can get you can get derailed not following that playbook.

(08:04):
And I'm saying that not because I always understood that.
I'm saying that is the guy that sees it now
from a long way out. You know, I don't I
don't have to compete with you guys for these jobs.
So I can actually see this better now. And so
I hope there's like a seventh grade coach at Buford
somewhere or at Lee County, the guy that's taking your
place that moved up and the other guy took his place,

(08:25):
and that guy's the cornerback coach and he's just happier
in hell to be out there. I hope that guy
will just keep doing that and everything. Coach for Breezio,
does you take something in every time they're having a meet,
and you take something in? So what did when I
say all that, what comes to mind about your time
at Lee.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
We're gonna get back to talking about Roswell. But what
comes to mind with because it wasn't just Dean. I
know you work with a lot. You worked with a
lot of good guys there.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
So what's something you really know you took with them
that you brought to Roswell from there?

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Uh, there's a lot that goes with what you just said.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
I'm gonna piggyback real quick on what you said about
being where your feet r and being in a really
good program. You know, I left the place in Upson
Lee in twenty nineteen to go be a receiver coach.
I was offensive coordinator at ups and Lee, and I
really just wanted to go be a really good program
at the highest level and learn from the best. Not
that the place I wasn't I was at at Upston
wasn't a great place. We had phenomenal players and phenomenal

(09:20):
coaches I was around, but I knew that Lee offered
something different. And I can't tell you or I can't
express it enough. Man, how Dean does it the right
way and Lee County does it the right way. And
there's a lot of programs like that down there, whether
it's Thomas County Central or Lounge or you know, and
then obviously that you know, there's so many around the state,
but there was a lot of merit of what you
said about b where your feed r don't be, so
you know, everybody gets caught up on a title. Like

(09:42):
I went there as a receiver guy, and I just
worked my tail off and three months later I was
offensive coordinated there and I stayed for six years and
they were phenomenal times.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Man, You're right, you know, at the end of the day, the.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
People you work around, whether it's Dean or guys like
John Flath or Nate Clark or you know, I mean,
we've had so many good coaches man that I work
side by with throughout the years there that.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Just made it special.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
We obviously had really good players, but I tell these
guys that we hear we got to maximize what we
have right, whether that's the time or the player, And
how do you do that. It's just being very attentive
to details. I thought yesterday we didn't do a very
good job with that. And we met as a staff
afterwards like we do every single day, and I think
you know, you see growth each day from our staff
and from our players, And I think that that's probably

(10:24):
the biggest thing I talked from or I learned from Dean.
It's just, man, no stone goes on turn, whether it's
with the administration, whether that's with your your staff, whether
it's with your players, your community, your Booscher club. Like
that guy is finding an inch every day. Man, every
day's fourth and one, and that can wear on people, right, Like,
it's hard and it's not easy, but that dude's relentless

(10:44):
and there's a reason that he changed the face of
that program and what people thought about it from being
an zero to ten program to being what it is today.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Man, Like, I don't know that.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
I couldn't be more blessed to have worked for that
man for six years. And I still call them all
the time looking for advice. But I took, you know,
just about everything I could from my six years there
as soon as I stepped in the door here in February.
If you're asking me for one thing, I think the
biggest is just like I said, man, just every day
finding that that inch, finding that razor's edge, or that

(11:17):
fourth and one mentality of you can't ever be comfortable
and you know that there's something that's got to be
fixed every day and things that we got improve.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
And I think our staff and this administration.

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Here's allowed me to bring in guys into the building,
which was huge, and once they did that, these guys
have really bought into how we want to do things.
And I'm trying to bring the mentality from a physicality
standpoint in organization that Dean has it in Lee at
Lee in South Georgia to here, and I think these
guys are responding to it.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
I think that's that's gonna be the key, coach. And
then the other key that you hadn't experienced yet if
you need, My advice is you hadn't. You have to
continue to do it when things aren't going your way,
because inevitably things aren't going to go your way at times. Right,
So when you're new, you take all those things that
you can look at that head coach, you know, and

(12:04):
it doesn't always have to be coaching Breezy or whoever's
listening to whoever that is for you. You know, you
take this stuff and you're like, I got this, and
then you they're not there to look at at that
moment you know something is going well and you got
to stay the course. And the people who are successful
stay the course through some tough times. It doesn't always
go their way. There was a day when Lee County

(12:25):
wasn't good, right, It really wasn't that long ago. There
was a day when Lee County wasn't even that good.
So you just have to hang in there, hang in there,
hanging there, keep getting better, keep getting better. Because you're
playing Walton, Buford Westlake in a region with Gainesville Milton.
I'm looking at that like, look, it ain't gonna all
go amazing. Okay, So you're gonna lose series is, you're

(12:45):
gonna lose quarters, You're gonna lose you know times, and
you're gonna have to regroup.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
So what have you learned?

Speaker 1 (12:52):
And you talk, You brought up February a couple of times,
so you were fortunate that you've been able to be
there three or four months when everybody's not when they're new.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
So you have been to hit the ground running.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
But what's been something that maybe's a little bit different
than you thought it would be as a head coach
from February to now, or it's something you've kind of
been surprised by how your day goes every day.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
I you know, I think that there's just so many things,
Like as an offensive coordinator, you get to.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Focus on just that side.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
But now and I thought Dean did a great job
of allowing me to be a part of a lot
of you know, different things that head coaches go through.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
But you're never know.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
It's just like getting married, you never know everything that
goes into it, or having a child, right Like, there's
always things that come up. And I think that's the
biggest is when you think you've got a plan of
how that exact day is going to go, and I
feel like I'm a very organized individual, there's always going
to be something that changes and you've got to be
able to, you know, adjust on the fly. And it's
just like we tell our kids, like it's great when
we have rain days or lightning during the middle of

(13:48):
practice because now we got to adjust and we got
to be able to do that, just like we would
on a Friday night. And we preach that, right like,
hey man, you know, and we may get lightning and
we may have an hour to lay.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
How are we gonna respond to it?

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (13:59):
So I think that's the biggest thing is head coach
that I've been more surprised by it than anything is.
Like as an offense coordinator, yeah, you got to change
and adjusts on the fly. Of course, I felt like
I did a good job with that, But this one,
there's things that you didn't expect to occur. More Whereas
offensively I thought that I was. I felt prepared on
Fridays for just about anything they could throw at us. Now,
injuries happened, and lightning happens and all that. But there's

(14:21):
just different things, you know, whether it's administrative meetings or
a kid gets in trouble, or you know, some phone
call that happens, and you may have had a plan
to have your script done for practice, Well you better
have done it the night before, you know. It's not
like when I was at Lee, where I could get
some stuff done during the day as much I think
that here offensively that is, I mean I think here,

(14:41):
you know, being the offensive coordinator and being the head coach,
I've got to be really prepared offensively before I stepped
foot in this office for the next day, because the
next day is going to be a lot of head
coaching duties. From the time I walk into the time
I leave so offensively. Yeah, I mean we're still I'm
still gonna lead it. But all the x's and o's
and the scripts and the cards and the schedules, right like,
those of those have got to be pretty much done.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, it's always a challenge when you're learning the place
and you're learning the job at the same time. So
you know, you're figuring out your role as a head
coach and still trying to call the plays, and you're
figuring out you know, Roswell High School. So the key
is to be it with some other people that you know,
you guys, some good consistent coaches, which you're going to
get to in a second. And you've got to you

(15:25):
got to have a good place that expects to win.
And I think how you overcome that is having players
and community and booster club and.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Parents that do expect to win.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
So there is an expectation there, which is a good thing,
and then you let that carry you for so long
while you're figuring out how to manage all those things.
Because it's okay to admit it's hard to manage all
those things. Like I'm not putting words in your mouth.
I'm saying people listening to this and say it's okay
to say, look, I got a lot going on right now,

(15:54):
you know, but if it was, if it was easy, everybody.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Would do it. Man, if it was easy, everybody to
be winning. So what's got? What do you What have
you seen from your team that you like?

Speaker 1 (16:04):
And then what is something maybe you've seen from your
team that you know we got to get better if
we want to get to where we want to be.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
I think, man, I really couldn't have asked to have
walked into a better situation personnel wise and just overall
young men wise. You know, it was fortunate enough, like
last year to be a part of a phenomenal group,
But man, walking in the door here in February, from
the players, to the booster club to the community like that,
they're unreal. And I've been super impressed with our leadership.
I think there's some there's some kids on this team

(16:32):
that understand what it's like to be in the fire
and understand what it takes. And I think that I
couldn't have been blessed with better leaders on the on
the offenside of the ball and the defense side of
the ball. They've got some experience on both sides. And
you know, the former staff did a great job of
cultivating those guys and getting them to where they are
today because uh, walking in Man, obviously the quarterback stands out,
but there's so many more. And I think that, you know, offensively,

(16:55):
we've got a chance to be really, really good. And defensively,
I've loved what I've saw this spring.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
Man.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
We got guys flying around that selling out for the
horror and they're willing to throw their body around it
to be relentless on Friday night.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
So I think the.

Speaker 4 (17:05):
Leadership is probably the biggest quality that I've been so
surprised with. I think that there are guys that understand
how to get people to gravitate and impact the masses.
And I don't think I could have you know, there's
a lot of places that don't have that, or I
could have walked in and had to have created that,
and I think that was already there for this senior class.
It's a special group. What we've got to improve in is, honestly, man,

(17:26):
just you know, like I talked to him about yesterday,
when when we the honeymoon phase is from the time
I got here in February and we're starting to fade off, right,
Like you know, it's all fun and games. When somebody
new comes in, you want impress and everybody's got a
clean slate, But are you willing to show up every
day and try to find that one percent to get
better at and go want to know every day? Because
you know, early on it's easy, it's fun, she's beautiful

(17:48):
early But when you get hit in the mouth or
things get hard a you're gonna still be the same
person like you talked about earlier. So that's what we
just got to continue to challenge ourselves to do. And
I think that's why it's important that we compete against
other people throughout the summer when we find continues to
and find out who we are. So I you know, yeah,
we got greater leadership, but now we got to We
got some young guys that are gonna be thrown in
the fire that they gotta they got to figure it

(18:08):
out pretty quick from a mentality standpoint and being able
to respond to adversity because the honeymoon's gonna go away
pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
I mean, the mistake people make when they look at
football here in the State of Georgia if they're not
you know, fans or maybe some parents. So look, there's
way more teams. There's way more well coached, good football
teams than there are teams that can win every Friday,
I meaning only half the teams can win. And I've
been around enough to tell you there's more than half
the teams are pretty well coached, pretty good football players.

(18:39):
So that's what probably makes Georgia a little bit different
than some other states, no doubt. But but people still
gonna lose. Half the team's gonna lose in Utah, and
half the.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Team's gonna lose in Georgia. It don't it doesn't matter
where you are.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
So half the team's gonna lose, but half the teams
don't always deserve to lose, if that makes sense. And
what separates us is some of the assistant coach some
mean his head coaches, obviously, but we have some really
depth in the coaching staffs and like places, and Ross
was one of them. So take a minute and brag
on your coaching staff a little bit. Talk about any
guys you kept, and any guys brought in and came in,

(19:12):
and you know you're really trying to always blend in
three staffs when you're new, right. You got the guys
that you kept, You got the guys that you brought in,
and then the guys that maybe came somewhere with you,
they got a little closer relationship with you. You know, you
got to blend those three groups together. So talk to
me a little bit about that. Brag on those guys.
I know they're doing a good job for you.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
Yeah, I'm gonna start with the guys that I brought
in that I knew, and then we'll just kind of
go down man. Because I was fortunate enough again great
administration doctor morrisy here new principal in December, she allowed
me to bring in two guys with me, and he
hit the floor running on day one. That's Rusty Waters,
who was the defensive coordinator at Norseide one of Robins
last year. He worked with me at Lee as a
special teams coordinator. Couldn't have asked for a better guy

(19:52):
to come leave the defense. And then I was able
to bring in my brother, Darris Brooks, who was the
defensive coordinator at Harris County last year, so to bring
into defensive Minds wanted to do the back end force
and wanted to kind of manage the box. Man, I
couldn't have asked for more. They you know, I led
the weight room from the day we walked in. But man,
they really gravitated towards the vision and they had seen

(20:12):
how we had done it in the past and what
I wanted, And uh, Man, those are two guys that
I can't say enough about it. Couldn't do it without them,
and wouldn't have made it through the last three months
without without those two. To be honest with you, we
lived together for the last three months, just us three
in the house trying.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
To figure it all out together.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
There's a lot of fun conversations because you know, our
families were in different parts of the state trying to
finish up the school year.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
So those two I almost.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Start with because those are the guys that came with
me and really hit the ground running, the guys that
were here before bo back Calitarian was the especial teams
coordinator last year. Man couldn't couldn't say more about him.
He's been the guy that I've leaned on that was
in the building that hey, I had questions and had
concerns about things. He knew how to navigate me and

(20:55):
what answers there were, and it's just been an extremely
hard worker man like anything. Ask him to do his
dudes on it, and you know, you need people like
that that know the place and then are willing to
buy into kind of how you want to do it,
because there was some different there's things that are different
obviously every time. And I think that you know, he
really gravitated towards that early and he wanted to be here.

(21:15):
There's some community guys that were here previously in the
past that that we kept on, Guys that a lot
of them played at Roswell, like Kobe Cumberlander, who's a
d line guy that played here. That you need people
like that in the program, high energy, young guy. Coach
Coleman coaches are receivers. He's obviously a Roswell gradual as well.
Both of those guys played college football and they've man

(21:36):
hit the ground running with us, been with us in
middle school, spring throughout it. And then we've had Coach Connors,
who was a quarterback guy here before previously was quarterback
coach and he stayed and helped us here too. And
then I was able to bring in some guys from outside,
and I know I'm missing some people, man, but able
to bring some guys from the outside. Throughout the course
of the interviews, a couple of them fell in my

(21:56):
lap that were actually in the building. That man like
coach Rodney Saturfay, who was the ocie at Chattahoochee when they
played for it, man like, couldn't have couldn't have asked
for just a better ball.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Coach came in and he watched me do mesh.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
One morning or one afternoon, I guess during spring, and
he was like, man, this is uh, this is what
I want to be a part of. And you know,
we've been fortunate enough to kind of get him on board.
And then coach Livingston, who was at Towns and has
been the O line coach in Cartersville and North Cove
right up the road and kind of knows the area's
big strength guy, but offensive line coach first, and it
can be more blessed to have him. So, man, there's

(22:30):
a lot of them, and I think the biggest thing
is they've allowed us to get people in the building.
Coach Steven Spratt, who was my receiver coach last year
at Lee Man. They let me bring him up with
me too, you know, former Army grad I went to
West Point. He's doing our receivers for us, so you know,
we're gonna end up having I think it's eight guys
in the building next year here, which for me that

(22:51):
was really important because I know, at the end of
the day, the reason I got into this was to
impact young men and when football game has been in
order to impact him at the highest level, I need
to be able to touch on feel and have as
many of the leaders as we can in that building
with them every day. And they've allowed us to do that.
And you know, we've added some community coaches that were
at different places, whether that was coach Graham at Lanier
or Coach Wright that was at Cedar Grove last year,

(23:12):
and then coach Cook, who's a local guy. I mean,
we've added some dudes that are quality community guys that
I've I've been really impressed with. I think the knock
on community guys is always you know, are they gonna
be here, They're gonna show up.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Man, These guys have been here, They've showed up. They've
showed out.

Speaker 4 (23:25):
Been at middle school spring, but at ninth grade spring,
been at varsity spring, been at summer workouts, and you
know they've they've they've stayed with us here through the
late night film sessions so after practice meetings, and I
couldn't be more impressed. But again, you know, we're also
still kind of in that honeymoon phase. Nobody said us
in the mouth yet, so it won't be long, and
you know, we'll find out a lot.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
About who we are when we get ready to.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
Buckle it up in these OTAs and then peach Stree
Ridge and the scrimmage coach.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
I'm really excited to see what y'all can do. I
think you know, roz was a great place. Like I said,
you inherited a good program. You're not stepping in having
to fix everything coming in off of one and Night
season like a lot of the people I'm talking to,
to be honest, and you've got a good attitude about
it too, because it's also going to be a challenge
and it's also you are going the honeymoon will end

(24:10):
at some point, and it's good to understand both, Like
you're very fortunate to be here and we got a
lot of work to do, right.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
So yeah, I'm excited for you.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
I'm excited to see what you can do, and I'm
excited to talk to you at the end of the
year or next year and say, well, would you learn
what was different?

Speaker 6 (24:25):
You know?

Speaker 1 (24:27):
But if I can ever help you anyway, let me know.
Really got you got some good people there, we.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
Do, man, We're excited.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
You know, Lambert was not too far away for a
scrimmage a pecher Ridge after And you know, I can't
thank you enough for everything you do for high school football.

Speaker 6 (24:39):
Man.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
I think that uh, you know, to be able to
recognize the staffs and the and the players and just
the brand of football that we play here instead of Georgia,
I think it.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
It means a lot.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
And I know that you know, you talk to coaches
and those are the guys that you're really wanting to
magnify or the players that we're talking about. But what
you do, man, it is important and it matters. So
I can't think enough for what you do.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
I appreciate it. Coach. That means a lot.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
If I can ever help you, let me know, yes, sir,
We'll do take care. Thank you, ma'am, See you may.
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(26:00):
at CST three zero four to three. Now all right,
we got coach Foeminaya here, the new head coach from
from Spraybury, formerly a hirem coach.

Speaker 6 (26:12):
Thanks for joining me, coach, I appreciate you having me today.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Man, so you had a great career going.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
I really enjoyed watching you guys and following you at HIREM.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
What made Spraybury a good opportunity for you?

Speaker 7 (26:26):
Well, To be honest with your coach, I've been up
here now going on year eight. I'm originally from Florida
and my wife and I and our family moved to
Cobb County even though I was working in Paulden the
whole time. My kids have been in the Paulden County
School or excuse me, in the Cobb County School District.
My wife is working for the Cobb County School District,
and I was kind of the outside.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
Man looking in.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:49):
You know, so I.

Speaker 7 (26:50):
Had really had my eye on on Spraybury for a
long time and just thought there was something really special
about the place. And when the job opened up, I
decided I need to jump in and put my name in.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah. It's a good place.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
Cobb County is a great place, great district. Yeah, and
Spraybury's a good place. Coach Vev did a great job there,
and you know, they had one of the best seas
in school history last year.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
So you know, you know, that.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Can be a blessing and a curse when a new coach, right,
So what have you seen so far from your team
that you like and that you feel like that season
they have from last year can really springboard more of
those seasons.

Speaker 7 (27:28):
Well, you know, I really have a really high opinion
of Coach V and he was actually the first person
I called when I thought about getting involved here. And
you know, I think those guys did a really good
job of really laying the foundation for this program.

Speaker 6 (27:44):
You know, so I talked to the boys all the time.

Speaker 7 (27:47):
You know, Uh, some programs have really good teams, but
then there's other places have really good programs. And when
you have a great program, the last names graduate, but
the standard never changes. And that's kind of what we
focused on this year is to take spray Berry to
the next level and to kind of push us into
become one of these elite teams in the state. And

(28:08):
you know, we feel like we have a group to
go do that this year.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, I think so too, Coach. You know, the region
is a little different. You know, one could argue that
you've been in some of the brutalist regions the last
few years at hire them and so this region I
feel like it's a good region. But I see a
lot of teams that are about, you know, traditionally about
the same. You know, a lot of teams that you
know half the teams are going to lose, but you're

(28:33):
not sure what half it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Every week.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
That would be exciting to me as a new coach.
You want to give that hope. You know that wikikipedias
every about our schedule. So what have you learned so
far about this region and.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
What do you think will really win in this region
or what's going to matter?

Speaker 7 (28:47):
Well, you know, I kind of going back to what
you said a minute ago, I learned a lot about
myself as a coach.

Speaker 6 (28:55):
You know. When I first moved here, we were in
the same region.

Speaker 7 (28:58):
With with Rome and Carleton and really good Kell teams,
and you learn really quick that the the era of
of the margin of error on a Friday night's really
small when you're playing against teams like that.

Speaker 6 (29:11):
And then you get moved into a.

Speaker 7 (29:12):
Region with Cartersville and Calhoun and Dalton and you kind
of realize and Cedar Town and Cast and you realize
really quick that you've got to have all your your
eys dotted and your tea's crossed, you know, So I
learned a lot about myself and as as a coach
and got better every single year. And I think you
have to kind of take that same mindset into this region.
You know, I think Secor is a really good ball club.

(29:34):
I think all the Cherokee schools are improving. You know
when you talk about places like Pope and last year,
those are rivalry games right up the street, you know
for us.

Speaker 6 (29:42):
So you know, I.

Speaker 7 (29:44):
Think we've got a couple of games really circled and penciled,
you know, as far as they're going to get our attention,
but you know, our focus here is really try to
get better every single week.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, what what have you seen of your team? You know,
in me in the weight room or some seven and
seven or if you don't spring stuff that you really
can hang your hat on moving forward, and maybe what
have you seen that you're like, Hey, I know we
got improved there.

Speaker 7 (30:08):
Yeah, well, you know, coach, I know a little bit
about you and kind of what you've gone through with
your programs, and you know, everywhere I've been it was
a total rebuilding. Like you're kind of starting from the
ground up and you're getting in and the kids buying
right away because they're just so hungry to win. You know,
when you come to a team that's won eleven games,
it's it's a little bit of a different approach.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
You know.

Speaker 7 (30:29):
You have to come in here and you don't need
to fix a whole lot of stuff. You know, this
is and this is another big thing to coach vav Like,
I don't have to coach effort here, you know, which
I think is one of the hardest thing. You know,
It's like the first thing you address as a coach
is getting kids to work hard.

Speaker 6 (30:46):
I've coached effort here very little.

Speaker 7 (30:48):
Uh, you know, our folks has been as really kind
of fine tuned these kids and to try to take
them to the next level.

Speaker 6 (30:53):
You know, I think as a.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
Coach, you try to take bad players and make them good.
You try to take good players and making great Then
you want to take those great ones and make them
a leak. And I think that's what we've been trying
to give these kids is hey, you had a taste
of this last year, but how do we take the
next step. We're going to focus on these things right here,
and you know, we've kind of given those kids some
motivation and we've given them some tools and uh, you know,

(31:16):
we feel really excited about the direction we're going in.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, I think so too, coach, And I am telling
you it is. It is different. He could probably argue
that for a new head coach. Of course, I'm talking
new head coaches all summer. For the new head coach,
it actually is a little bit harder and a little
bit more challenging to take over the team that's really good.
You know, you think everybody wants to be somewhere they're good.
But in a weird way, it's easier to come in

(31:40):
and really implement what you want to implement when they're like, hey, man,
whatever you want to do sounds good, we'll try.

Speaker 6 (31:45):
You know.

Speaker 7 (31:47):
You know, you take over, you know, and hire them.
They hadn't been in the playoffs in ten years. Yeah,
so when I.

Speaker 6 (31:51):
Come in and say, hey, we're going to do it
like this, they're like, yes, sir.

Speaker 7 (31:53):
But when you come into a place that just won
eleven games and went to the third round, you know,
it's kind of like you got to give them a
why now.

Speaker 6 (32:00):
Before it was just like hey, go do it. Now
it's hey, this is why we're doing this.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
It's blessing and a curse.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great to inherit
people that know how to win. I mean, that's probably
better than not. I'm just saying from a standpoint of
that normal taking over a team thing, it is a
little different. So going there, coach, this is not your
first head job, So what would you What do you
know now about taking over a program that you didn't

(32:29):
know the other times? And what I mean by that is,
I'm interviewing people all summer and some of them are
brand new head coaches. Some of them are head coaches
that left head coaching for a while and now are
coming back. Some of them, like you, head coaches just
going to a new head coach team. Like, everybody's got
a little different perspective there. Some of them in their
second job, third, most of them in their first. What

(32:51):
do you know now that you didn't know when you
were any of those other guys.

Speaker 6 (32:57):
Well, I'll tell you, coach a little bit about me.

Speaker 7 (32:59):
I worked for a Hall of Famer in Florida and
that gave me an opportunity to go get a job
at a very early age. So my first had job
was at twenty seven years old, and at twenty seven,
you don't even know what you don't know.

Speaker 6 (33:12):
You know, there's no there's no manual for this thing.
You know.

Speaker 7 (33:16):
My my thing in those days was he let's work
really hard and let's love kids. You know, let's get
the right ones on the bus. But as a young coach,
I didn't know how to manage the adults.

Speaker 6 (33:26):
You know.

Speaker 7 (33:27):
I struggled with allowing guys to take ownership of things
and getting things going. You know, when I was a
young coach, a guy wouldn't do something right, and I'd
let them go on the spot, and then before you
know it, I'm looking around and it's just me, you know,
and a couple other guys.

Speaker 6 (33:40):
You know.

Speaker 7 (33:41):
So I learned at an early ages you got to
find what people do well, and you got to give
them an avenue to be successful, not just the kids,
but also the adults. You know, kids are kids. They
haven't changed in the twenty some years we've been doing this.

Speaker 6 (33:53):
You know. I think people want to pinpoint and kids
are different.

Speaker 7 (33:56):
I still think kids they crave structure, that crave discipline,
and I think that if you set certain standards and expectations,
kids will rise to it.

Speaker 6 (34:06):
You know.

Speaker 7 (34:06):
But what I didn't know at an early age, was
you know, how to manage the adults, how to give
people responsibility, how to let people do things their own way.
You know, Like I came up as a line coach,
you know, and the first time I hired a d
line guy and he didn't do the way I wanted
to be done, all of a sudden, you know, I
was all over him.

Speaker 6 (34:24):
You know.

Speaker 7 (34:24):
I think there's a million different ways to do this position,
and you got to let people take some ownership of
some things, you know. So that that's what I would
recommend the young head coaches is, you know, hire a
good staff and then let those guys coach, you know,
give them responsibility. Don't try to do everything yourself because
there's just not enough time in the day to get
everything done.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
That's a fantastic advice. Fantastic advice.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Actually, most people I asked that question to have a
similar answer. I mean they might not say it the
same way, but at some variation of I was ready
for the kids, I wasn't quite ready for the adults.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Now.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
With some people, that might be assistant coaches. With some
it might be parents with something might get administrators. With
some it might be you know, other sport coaches. But
in some of those variation of adults, they struggled, you know,
and they just didn't know and they weren't quite ready
for it.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
And it doesn't nothing to be shamed of. Everybody's done it.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
But to be successful, you've got to figure that out
fairly quickly, you know. And so that is great advice actually,
you know.

Speaker 7 (35:26):
And to coach, you know, your staff is your staff
is going to make or break you, right, and you've
got to get people around you that are scared to
talk to you. You know, if if you're the only
person that's coming up with ideas and things like that,
it's not a recipe for success, you know. I think
when I got to hire my first hire was Andy Scott,

(35:48):
and Andy had been the head coach in the state
for a long time and had been you know, in
Middle Georgia and had been in the Metro and you know,
for Andy and I had kind of sit in a
room and talk through some things. You know, it wasn't
the way that I had done things, but I think
I could listen to people and try to take their advice.

Speaker 6 (36:03):
You know.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
Another thing that I would take the coaches is you
got to go out and learn from different people that
have got similar situations. You know, when I got here,
I go up to Rome and watch practice at Rome.
How's Rome doing this?

Speaker 6 (36:14):
You know?

Speaker 7 (36:14):
And talk to coach read or I go to Alatuna
and talk talk to Gary Varner, Hey, how are you
doing this?

Speaker 6 (36:20):
You know? Or Phil Ironside you know when he was
a hell grove.

Speaker 7 (36:24):
Like, You've got to be willing to call people and
ask questions because you're not going to have all the answers,
you know.

Speaker 6 (36:30):
And I think that in this.

Speaker 7 (36:31):
Fraternity of coaching, like, we're all willing to help each other,
you know, as long as you know, you show that
you're willing to work hard and do things the right way.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Absolutely, coach call. You mentioned your staff, so let me
go there.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
You know, when you're another thing, when you're coming in,
you're always dealing with three different staffs, right, the staff
you brought in, the staff he inherited, and the staff
you're hiring that came with you, you know from your
old place.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
If you got any of those and.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
You try to blend those three girls troops, right, and
it can be challenging. So get brag on these guys
a little bit. I know, they're working hard for you
this summer, So tell me a little bit about who
you got on your stay.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
Up, you know.

Speaker 7 (37:10):
So we've got some holdovers from the previous staff who've
been critical to our success this spring. Just you know,
when you've got a place like Spraybury who's been playing
football for sixty or seventy years, there's a lot of
traditions here, you know, things that have been done for
a long time, things that are part of the fabric
of the community, you know. So you've got a guy

(37:32):
like Chester Ransom, who's going into his forty second or
forty third year at Spraybury coaching. He's been a pee
teacher here inkybb County and has been on staff with
all these different head coaches, you know. And I can
always lean on Coach Ransom and just say, hey, how
we done this, how what does this look like in
the past, And he's he's just had great answers for

(37:54):
me and great support. You've got a guy like coach
hay Good, Coach Brent hate Good who's retained, who's coaching
the offensive line. He coached for Coach Dorsey at Matt
mckeecher and and has been in a couple of different places.

Speaker 6 (38:05):
He's got a ton of experience.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (38:07):
Coach bellis who worked for Rocky and you know, worked
for some of the different guys at Walton, and he
was able to come in and just kind of give
me some of that perspective of what we've done here
at Spraybury, but also what they did at Walton. Uh.
You know, We've got a couple other guys on staff,
Coach Robbie Jenkins, who are alumni who can kind of

(38:28):
talk about their experiences here and and just share some.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
Of the different things they've done.

Speaker 7 (38:32):
And I've been really pleased with how those guys have looked,
you know. And then we've been able to bring some
guys on from our previous staff.

Speaker 6 (38:39):
You know.

Speaker 7 (38:40):
Clai mcntt was my offensive coordinator for seven seasons at
Hire Them. We're we're kind of in a unique system
like you are, you know, and we've had a lot
of success offensively last couple.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
Of years, you know, so I was able to bring
him on.

Speaker 7 (38:53):
One of my good friends who we've been together since Florida,
Josh Cassidy, came over to be our defensive coordinator. The
previous head coach over at Harrison. He was in my wedding.
I was in his wedding. We were assistants together in Florida,
and I'm glad that we're able to come together and
work together.

Speaker 6 (39:10):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
My brother Mark Fullman I is our offensive line coach
and or one of our offensive line coaches, and I
think he's one of the best O line coaches in
the state, young O line coaches in the state. Coach
Trout is our defensive line coach. He's one of the
guys that's been on staff, but one of the newer
members on staff.

Speaker 6 (39:29):
He was defensive coordinator at South Cobb and.

Speaker 7 (39:33):
You know, he's got two boys on the team, so
he's got a real high level of investment with us.

Speaker 6 (39:37):
Brought a couple of young guys with us too, from.

Speaker 7 (39:40):
Hiram Caleb Brewster who played for me and is gonna
be our inside linebacker coach, and then Everett Petway who's
gonna help us in the secondary. And we've also brought
coach Ken Blankenship back home, Rodrigo blank Ship's dad. He's
gonna come and help with our kickers and our specialists.
So we're excited about where we're at with that position
as well.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
It's good coach I only got a good group.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Man.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Anytime you can have your brother and the guy you're
in your wedd and who, by the way, was a
great hire, I know, Coach Cassid a good one. You
got something, you know, you got some people you can
trust and lean on there and then having guys on
inheriting guys are retaining guys is so critical, you know,
because like you say, you do need to know the
landscape and the history behind some things, and people dismiss

(40:24):
that way too often.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
You really need both, yes and yeah.

Speaker 7 (40:28):
I think and I think, and I think you need
a good mix of young guys and old guys. Yeah,
you know, like you can't just go hire a bunch
of twenty something year olds because they don't know what
they don't know, you know. And then your staff can't
just be full of old veterans because you need to
kind of have some of that juice and energy that
those young guys can bring.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
So you got it's about the mix, and especially at.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
These higher classifications where you know, in Georgia, where everybody mean,
here's a thing, you know, and be sixty teams in
your classification this year, and I guarantee it's about forty
five or fifty well coached.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Teams, yes, sir, you know, and only thirty two are
gonna make the playoffs. You know, I mean, it just
it's just how it is.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
So many good guys like you come up from Florida,
so many guys come from Alabama and grow, so many
good coaches. You know, most of the teams are going
to be pretty well coached. So you better have that
mix of old and new.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
You better have that.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Little things are gonna get you to edge, to move forward.
And I know you've seen that, so coach, and I'll tell.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
You that to coach. You know, people ask me about
the biggest difference between.

Speaker 7 (41:25):
Florida and Georgia and this and that and that, and
I tell people that the coaching is second to none,
and Florida you can probably out coach six or seven
of the teams you play, okay, uh, But you come
in Georgia and that one in nine team is coaching
those kids just as hard as that team that goesteen
to know, Yeah, they're coaching, you.

Speaker 6 (41:41):
Know, they just may not have the personnel to do.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
It's really the depth we just have. You know, Florida
has phenomenal athletes. First off, they do have better year
in your out have better athletes, I mean on recruiting
rankings and things like that. But what you'll find is
Florida's absolute best team. They can put it on some of.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Our best teams, I mean, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
But if you get down the roster, so let's look
at the two hundredths best team in the state.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
We're putting it on some people. That's Alabama, Florida, Tennessee.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Now, you take the best few teams in every state,
they're gonna be to compete with everybody's best few teams,
and Florida has a deeper run than that even But
when you start getting into that middle of the pack
type teams, like I said that definitely that five and
five team, I mean, that may be some high level
stuff going on on that five and five team to
get them to five and five, you know, because the
competition is so even in so many of these areas.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
And so that's what I've seen too.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
You know, people ask me those kind of questions all
the time, and I'm not saying we're better than anybody else.
If we just lined up our best ten and played
their best ten, I'm not saying we win five or
six of them. But I'm telling you, if we lined
up the best couple of hundred, they'd be in trouble.

Speaker 6 (42:56):
Yeah, and there's no doubt, coach.

Speaker 7 (42:57):
And I can tell you, being an outsider, well an
outsider seven years ago, i'd agree with you one hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (43:02):
Yeah, that top to bottom.

Speaker 7 (43:04):
You know, in most regions, those teams could compete with
anybody else's kids, you know, and you got to earn
it every Friday night, like nothing's going to be given
to you.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
You wouldn't want any other way. That's why people come.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Here's what's about, man. So I'm looking forward to finding
you guys.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
I appreciate you, and if I can help you guys
in any way, let me know.

Speaker 7 (43:24):
Yeah, Coach, thanks a lot for doing this. You know,
I think a lot of people talk about helping coaches,
but then there's a few guys that really back it up,
and you're one of them. And I appreciate you, know,
everything you put out there for all of us and
everything that we get to learn from and you know,
I think you're making our professional better.

Speaker 6 (43:40):
So I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Thank you. It means a lot. Coach take care.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
Thank you, but you did.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Joined this time by coach Marcus Gallon, the new new
head coach at Gordon Central High School coming from Valdosta
doing coaching coach.

Speaker 5 (44:02):
I'm doing great. Thank you for having me on the
podcast today. It's really a pleasure to sit down and
talk with you.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Yeah, man, I appreciate you taking some time to talk
to me.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
So you're going from you know, I think historically the
absolute winning this team in the state right to the
head job Gordon Central South Georgia to Way North Georgia,
Way South, Away North, a lot of winning to not
as much win at Gordon Central.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
A little bit different, right, Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
Man, it's so you know, relistically, you know, you come in, man,
and you know you come in you think about Austin.

Speaker 8 (44:37):
You try to take everything that you do for about Austin.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
You realize really quick, you know, coming into it, that
you know you have to kind of adjust and change
how you do things. You know, you know this is
a single a program from you know, a seven day program.
How you adjust how you practice, you know, the overall
mentality and state of culture of the program is.

Speaker 8 (44:54):
A big thing that you have to evaluate.

Speaker 5 (44:56):
You know, for me, it was really great when I
came into March, and I just took some time to
really sit down with kids and kind of figure out
where they were at as a program, where.

Speaker 8 (45:05):
The program wore it was, how it could grow.

Speaker 6 (45:07):
You know.

Speaker 8 (45:07):
Obviously coach Gregory was a huge resource for me in
this transition.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
You know, I think Coach Gregory really did a great
job of building the program going back in the right direction,
you know, getting into four and six last year, you know,
after they had a couple of really really rough years.
But you know, so far the transition has been great.
A lot of people have really you know, jumped on
and got on my shoulders and rode with me.

Speaker 8 (45:30):
And I think that that's a really good, good sign
of things to come.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yeah, I do too.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
The you know, Gordon Central was four and six last year,
like I said, after three straighther and ten years and
had not made the playoffs in thirteen years I think
between last year, so coach Gregory did a good job
getting them going and what what do you think It
really attracted you to that opportunity. You know, when you're
Abvoualdosta and good assistant coach, people know who you are,

(45:55):
you can get some opportunities to talk to some different places.
What specifically made Gordon Central and a job for you Well, I.

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Think it was a combination of you know, I thought
that seeing the positive trend the coach that Coach Gregory
had kind of established, you know, doing my researching my
homework on the program, as far as you know, where
the program has been out in the past, and what
they can do, and you know, kind of the category
of the athlete that they have here. I think that
there are kids here that can play football. I think

(46:23):
there's some kids here that that that strive to be
good at football, you know. And then overall for me,
you know, family wise, I was ready to take the
next step. You know, me and coach Felton, you know,
the head coach at Valdosta, are really really close. And
you know, Coach Felton told me, you know, about two
years ago, he said, you know, when you get the opportunity,
you know, you need to take it and run with

(46:43):
it because you're ready. And so for me, I think
it was more about taking a shot on me, taking
a chance on me, and trying to believe that I
can do it.

Speaker 8 (46:51):
And I know that I can, and I think that
you know.

Speaker 5 (46:53):
Gordon Central is just a unique place because I think
I'm the fit for Like I understand the kid that's here.
As far as you know, I relate to this type
of kid that we have here. You know, we're single
aid rule, uh, you know, hard work in blue collar
community and that's kind of how I was raised. And
I see a lot of similarities of my upbringing and

(47:15):
the Panhandle Florida to hear, and so really just excited
about the overall, you know, opportunity to lead a program
and then to also you know, try to see what
I can What is the ceiling, what can I max
it out at That's one of the big things for me.

Speaker 8 (47:29):
I want to try to do the best that I
absolutely can't.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Hear yause, I thought it was a very honest answer.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I appreciate it. I mean I try to get mostly
honest answers. But you know, I asked that kind of
question to everybody, and sometimes you get an honest answer,
and sometimes you get, you know, saying what they feel
like they got to say. But I think it's true
to say, name's betting on yourself, man, give yourself a chance.
It's time to step up. And that's I be honest
with you, that's probably verbatim the answer I thought to

(47:54):
myself when I did the same thing, you know, and
I took over at teen that was zero to ten
and one night in two different places. So I mean
that same kind of thing. You just bet on yourself.
It's time to take an opportunity. And I appreciate you
saying that. Actually, too many people don't just say, hey,
this is we thought, it's time to do it.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
We're gonna be to do it.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
What do you think you can carry? I guess there's
two questions here, What do you think you can carry
from Valdosta to there?

Speaker 2 (48:17):
And then what do you know you can't?

Speaker 5 (48:19):
You know, well, I think that I know that I
can carry as my mindset and approach to how I
do everything. Uh, you know last you know, five years
of Valdosta. You know, me and coach Snart mcurry, we're
kind of Coach Felton's right and left hand man, and
so you.

Speaker 8 (48:32):
Know, the overall day to day operation and.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
Mindset, how we approaching and how greatness is a mindset
and everything that we do and how we're going to
attack challenges and we're not going to back down, and
we're gonna do everything we can within our power to
be successful. It's one thing that I'm definitely bringing, uh,
you know, teaching these kids that hey, you know, you're
not a second class and son, you can go be
great and everything that you do you can go achieve greatness.

Speaker 8 (48:57):
You can go to college, you can be a good
football player.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
But to the first thing that you have to do
is change your mind And unfortunately, mindset is something for
a lot of kids that has trained from an early
age that they're going to be, you know, either less
than or not as good then the other competition. Here
in the town we got, we got great kids to
play here. So I'm trying to bring that mindset and
training them and transitioning them. And then you know, the
biggest thing is, you know when you look at what

(49:21):
I can't bring from Valdosta. You know, at Valdosta we
were completely separate offensive defense, to separate fields, you know,
you know, here, you know, we got to we had
to practice you know, offensive period, you know, and then
we had to practice defense period.

Speaker 8 (49:35):
And it's a lot of the starters with the same
kids that you see.

Speaker 5 (49:39):
And so for us, like when we go to seven
on sevens, like man our first game, our second game,
we're going one hundred miles an hour. We're great when
you're playing. You know, you're up at UTC Chattanooga and
you're playing Tinner and you're playing you know, Notre Dame
and you're playing these bigger schools like and they're rolling out,
you know, a fresh new five you know in the
in the back end on the seven on seven game,
like heggs grow get tired quick, you know.

Speaker 8 (49:59):
So for us, you know, getting.

Speaker 5 (50:01):
Our kids to optimal performance as far as being in
shape is really big. And then also you know, trying
to get into more of the data aspects as far
as like load bearing, as far as you know, using
type sensors and stuff of that nature. But track how
much my kids are actually doing because like I've got,
you know, about seven or eight sets of legs. They

(50:22):
got to make sure that they're ready and you know,
September and October and they're not dying in July.

Speaker 6 (50:26):
You know.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Now that's right, Coke.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
You know your region, the region had a very unique
situation where if I if I remember right, seven of
the eight teams made the playoffs through power ranking. So
it's very competitive, especially in that two to seven range.
You know, you had a lot of similar type teams,

(50:50):
so by that standard, regions kind of up for grabs,
especially in some of their So what do you know
about this region so far and what do you feel
like it's really important to succeed in this.

Speaker 5 (51:02):
Well, you know, the region, like you said, is very
it's very even across the board. You know, it's really
top heavy when you look at you know, you look
at Fanning, who's traditionally been you know, a really really
good program in the state for a very very long
period of time. And you know, coach chat Chet does
a great job there. He's got a great culture. You know,
he lives and dies inom where kids roll out on
Friday nights. They look the part they do and they

(51:24):
play the part, you know, and then you kind of
look at the less of the rest of the region.
There's a lot of To me, there's a lot of similarities,
and you know in between you know, Akusa and A
Day you know, and a Gordon Lee and and a
lot of our teams are To me, realistically, I think
it's gonna be a coin flip, you know, on Friday
night when they play, it's gonna be about how you know,
how our kids rested, how our kids, you know, prepped,

(51:47):
how our coaches prepped.

Speaker 8 (51:49):
What are we at.

Speaker 5 (51:49):
As far as from a game planning standpoint week do
we do? We feel like there's anything we can exploit?
And then for us, it's about making sure like we're defensively,
our fits and our readis are really clean to make
sure or that like let's just say that we're playing
you know, you know day and they're really good run
insights all that, we better make sure we have a
great plan for that to make sure that we're successful.
Because I think that athlete, the athletes, You're going to

(52:11):
see a lot of singularities in each team, you know,
I know the coach can I think in the second
year at COUPSA, I expect Coust will take a big
job this year. So we do have you know, we
do have a lot of singularities in the region. I
think it's going to be very competitive.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Yeah, I do too.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
I'm excited for you guys, because I think you want
to have some hope, you know, when you're new at
a job, and sometimes the schedule makes the hope get.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
A little difficult. It really does, you.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Know, we're talking to mostly, you know, talking to new
head coaches this summer, and I mean the schedule has
a lot to do with the level of hope you
can get.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
I mean this time of year, of course, everybody wants
to say they're you know, they're going to have a great.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Season, but in some cases the schedule makes that really difficult.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
Is not anything that guy can do about it.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
It's just going to line up on for or five
teams they're not gonna be and then the other ones
coin flips and we got to see in the momentum
of those kids and buying into your vision and your
system is really dependent sometimes on getting some wins, you know.
So I'm excited for you guys because I look, did
my homework for this, you know. I really think in

(53:18):
a region, like you said, a lot of.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
Teams like you.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
So I don't know that you're looking up and seeing
a bunch of teams you got no chance against. I
think you're seeing teams you got a chance against every Friday,
and you got to play well to win. But so
do they too. They got to play well to beat
you too, you know. And that's that mindset shift you're
trying to build, that you bring that confidence from Valdosta
where there is a lot of confidence, a lot of belief,

(53:40):
And I found that that was something that's really different
from South Georgia to North Georgia or from the rural
area where they're very successful.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Is just that belief that we're supposed to win, you know.
And so what do you think there's something that any.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Coach can do, not just you because you have been
in that environment with the people who expect to win.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
What is something you see that those teams do well?

Speaker 8 (54:04):
I think that the biggest thing. And Felton said this
all the time.

Speaker 5 (54:07):
You know, it's fourth and one mentality every day at Valdosta,
whether it's first walk wage, whether it's walkthrough, whether it's
you know a pre practice, you know, structure, you know,
walk through for a game, whatever it may be. Like,
if you come in as a coach and you say, Okay,
my expectation is going to be here, then your expectations
will be there. If you come in your expectations are here,
what you're gonna do is you're gonna find that area

(54:29):
that you can buffer it up to. It may not
ever get to there, but you're gonna raise the level
of the program that's one of the things that felt
told me, you know, when I took this chance, and
he said, I don't he said, gee, I don't know
nothing about Gordons, he said, but I'll tell you this,
he said, I know that you're gonna go there and
you're gonna make them butter. And so that's my thing
is I'm gonna come in and as a coach, I'm
gonna do everything I can.

Speaker 8 (54:49):
To make this place better.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
Like when I transitioned up here in the spring and
my wife and my daughter was still you know, in Valdosta,
Like I literally didn't leave this fieldhouse because I was
working every day. I I could make this place better.
And so for me, like what I tell a coach,
if he's coming into a situation, you've got to hit
the ground running. Your first eighteen months on the job
are probably the hardest time in the transition because building

(55:11):
the culture, getting coaches in, you know, getting kids adapted
and bought in and believed in you.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
It's a big part of the the problem.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
Like you just said right there earlier, you know, building
some wins, people start to have confidence. When they start
to have confidence, they start to believe. Well, you can't
build those wins if you don't come in and you
said that standard expectation that people are going to jump.

Speaker 8 (55:32):
On the boat with.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
You, Well that's exactly the right coach. Well, hey, i'll
get you out on here.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
Tell me a little bit about who you brought with
you and who you kept and brat on these assistant
coaches a little bit.

Speaker 5 (55:43):
Yeah, so right now. So I brought in one coach.
I brought in a defense coordinator named Patrick Jordan Patted,
one of my good friends. We were together in Chris County,
so we were together for two years. He's most recently
been he was a defensive batch coach at at Jones County.
He's been, uh played it by day. You was a
GA at Valdosta State. Perhaps a really good coach, really

(56:06):
good back end coach. One of the like I said,
one of my best friends trusting throughout the world. Billy
Blizzards our special teams coordinator, our D line coach. Billy
was a you know, coach at Tennessee Tech for a
long time. He was down to East Paulaman coach shackle
for our former a D. Billy does a really great
job for us. You know, we're trying to we actually

(56:26):
just got a social studies job that came up, and
we're trying to hire another coach in that role right now.
And so building the staff, you know, that's one of
those things from the staff standpoint, it's gonna take time
in the single lay school because there's not as many,
not as many openings as you know, you would typically
like to have, you know, and so you know that
transition for us staff wise, we retained a lot of
a lot of the people that were here.

Speaker 8 (56:46):
You know, we've got a couple.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
Of guys who are former players that are kind of
bought in and believe in changing. You know, Andre Prathers,
our quarterback coach, he played here. He kind of holds
almost every every offense to the staff record here. Aaron Parker,
you know, ups coach receivers for us, we've got We've
got some guys here that are that are bought in Leeving.
That's the biggest thing that I like is like I
came in and I said, guys, I'm gonna tell you

(57:08):
what when I interviewed every coach on the staff when
I came in, I said, this is what Lenny told me,
and this is what I expect. Did you do this
or you do X, Y and Z, or we're gonna
have you know, we're gonna have to have a conversation
at the end of the year. And so since then,
every guy that I've talked to, like, you know, I
feel them running beside me and not pulling me back.
That's what I like to see. You know, I don't
care if you're the best coach in the world, like

(57:30):
you come in, you work your tail off every day.
And that's like, that was about Austin after my first year.
Like most people think, me and coach felt because I
coached in Cordell have a relationship before I barely knew
coach felt, you know when I took when I got
down about Austin. So my first year, my thing was
I'm gonna work my tail off of this guy and
do everything I can. And because of that, I you know,
I advanced become the assistant head coach and then eventually

(57:51):
the co offens coordinator and so, you know, I believe
that hard work is what drives a coach to get better.
I don't believe in being average. I don't believe in
being half a and anything that I do. And so
you know, for me, I just expect my coaches to
come in every day and give me the best they can.
They're doing a really good job.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Man.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
That's good to hear. Well, I'll tell you this. I'm
I'm looking forward to following you guys. I think I
think you got a chance to do some good things there.
I think coach Gregory is a good dude, did a
great job there. I think got them kind of moving
in that direction. And I think you're the guy to
keep them going that way and keep improving. So, uh,
you're not too far from you know, Gordon, Gordon County
like peeling right, Gordon cass where Calhoun is is touch

(58:30):
his pickings.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
It ain't too far. I get out there and see you.

Speaker 8 (58:33):
Sometimes sounds good, coach, come by anytime. Appreciate you, man

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Take care coach and see it