Heritage High School: Conyers, Georgia has an immediate opening for a defensive line coach and special education teacher. Up and coming program, with players who work their tails off to get better. We have the pieces in place to be good, just need some more good coaches. Preferable experience of playing college football and or coaching in college.
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With the state high school football championships upon us this week in Georgia, I found the above classified ad to be rather telling.
Football is big business in our state and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s also about winning and school officials who try to pretend it’s not about winning are trying to sell you a batch of apples that long ago spoiled. They would have an easier time selling me some ocean front property in Nebraska than to sell me on the fact high school football isn’t about winning today.
The classified ad listed above is an actual item. I found it on a website dedicated to college football coaching news. It stood out to me immediately because it shows how much high school coaches need to win today.
Here we have a high school head coach in Georgia placing an ad for an assistant coach (not even a coordinator mind you) and throwing in a detail about college coaching experience being a plus. This is also a school which competes in the same region as Winder-Barrow and Apalachee.
“For me personally, when I interview a coach I look for someone with good character,” said WBHS head football coach Ben Corley. “Experience and knowledge are important, but it is not the end all. It is certainly not my No. 1 priority.”
The main emphasis for Corley is to find coaches who will treat kids right and be loyal to the program.
“We do have two members of our coaching staff who have worked in college and two who have played college football,” Corley said. “That helps you in the area of recruiting and getting your players recognized. I can’t speak for someone else, but putting it out there as part of a job description for a defensive line position does seem a little much.”
While winning these days has perhaps become too much of a priority, the Winder-Barrow head coach likes to think some emphasis is still on the right things.
“People are more interested in the bottom line,” Corley admitted. “In high school I still hold out hope the emphasis is on building a better man. Hopefully, we have not deteriorated beyond that in high school. Winning and losing has its place because it helps you evaluate your program, but it should not be the most important thing in the end.”
Corley is a coach who has his priorties in order. He runs a family-type program at Winder-Barrow High School and will continue doing so in the future. Does he want to win? You bet. However, he always has football in the proper perspective and knows it can be a great learning tool for life when used properly.
These are the type of coaches we need more of in our schools today. Coaches who realize what’s important.
Now if we can just get all those know-it-all coaches in the stands to understand it as well then the battle will be won.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. E-mail comments about this column to cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
