To some, David Wagner is seen as someone who simply stands on the sidelines during football games for Winder-Barrow High School.
“Coaching a high school team is no big deal,” many actually believe. “There’s nothing to calling a few plays. How difficult is that?”
For the naive, football is that simple. In reality, it is anything but.
Take Wagner’s schedule in recent weeks. He has worked virtually non-stop since the final day of the school year. This, of course, is not including those prior weeks and months of weight training, spring practice, weight lifting competition, conditioning, breaking down film, lining up camps, etc. The list literally goes on and on.
“Once June gets here, it’s pretty much all football for me,” Wagner has told me. “There’s simply too much to get done in terms of getting better.”
June has indeed been a busy time for the second-year WBHS coach. His team has been practicing, conditioning, traveling to various events and doing whatever is necessary for the new season, which is now just weeks away.
Even with the upcoming “dead week,” a span of time set aside by the Georgia High School Association when players are not allowed to take part in any type of activity, Wagner will be busy. While he won’t be able to work with his players, you will probably see Wagner throughout the Winder and Barrow County area selling his program.
“Businesses have been eager to help,” the coach said during a Sunday night conversation I had with him. “They also like to see you face-to-face and hear how things are going, what progress is being made and anything related to the upcoming season. With the players being off for the ‘dead week,’ I will be spending my time meeting with local businesses lining up support for the program.”
It’s all part of the job for Wagner, who is looking to build a program, which has not enjoyed much success in many years, into a consistent winner. It’s not as easy as some people think and even though Wagner knows improvements were made in various areas a year ago, the coach wants the improvement to show up in the win column.
“There are so many areas that we are better in,” the coach said. “However, I’ve always been a bottom line guy and I want the bottom line to show that we have some wins to go with the other areas of improvement.”
That’s why the coach is taking to the streets, pounding the pavement to generate the necessary support for the Bulldogg program. Part of the success level for any high school football program is community support and Wagner wants to make sure his team has plenty of it.
“Part of your role as coach is to let people know about the program, let them know what you are doing and let them know how they can help,” Wagner said. “That’s what I have been trying to do since I took the job and we are continuing to do now.”
Some might say a daunting task is in front of Wagner. Rebuilding any high school football program is not easy and doing so in a quality region is only tougher. The recent success enjoyed by fellow county and region school Apalachee also makes it tougher. When the county’s “other high school” is successful, then fans of the one which has not enjoyed the same degree of success don’t understand the reasons behind it. Often times, all they seee are wins and losses.
For Wagner, who arrived at WBHS by way of AHS, the solution is simple. You work hard, prepare hard and get the community on board. Wagner doesn’t care what teams are on the schedule or how good they may be.
He’s not concerning himself with a possible move to a higher classification in a year’s time in which the competition would even be stronger.
No, Wagner is building the Bulldoggs one step at a time, brick by brick. To him, it’s the only way to get it done. That’s why you just may very well see the WBHS coach out and about in coming days.
While he may not be on the practice field, Wagner will be pushing the community to help his program be successful.
Hopefully, the community will respond because the success of the Bulldoggs very well depends on a community rallying together behind it.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
