New faces, places
- Updated: July 28, 2023
News and notes from Calhoun County Quarterback Club Media Day: Reality of four new coaches, one familiar coach at a new place settles in
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
Jonathan Miller wore a striped white polo with a Piedmont “P” logo to Friday’s Calhoun County Quarterback Club Media Day.
Anniston’s Rico Jackson, Saks’ Alphonso Freeney, Weaver’s Ken Cofer and White Plains’ Blake Jennings made their first appearances as head coaches.
Their new postings have had weeks, in some cases months, to settle in. Then again, there’s something about what’s become the county’s signature signaling event for football season that sealed it all as real.
New faces and an old face in a new place highlighted the day’s activities at Anniston Country Club. It’s jarring, but even a county that’s made a habit of producing seven to nine playoff teams annually offers upward mobility.
“I’m at the point of my career where I’m trying to win a championship, just to be honest,” said Miller who won 100 games in 11 seasons as Saks’ head coach.”It was that way in my last few years at Saks. That was our goal going into the season.”
The volume of coaching changes marks a sharp upward curve, but consider this. Of the county’s 13 football-playing schools, seven have changed head coaches in the past two years. Jeremy Satcher enters his second season as Donoho’s head coach, and Chris Findley enters his second as Ohatchee’s permanent head coach after serving as interim in the back half of the 2021 season.
Sam Adams enters his third season at Oxford.
Meanwhile, consider Steve Smith at Westbrook Christian, in neighboring Etowah County, after 17 seasons at Piedmont. Consider Gary Atchley, a long-time coach across multiple sports at Weaer, on Jacksonville’s staff.
Winds of change blew through Calhoun County with force, and a lot of communities find themselves learning new personalities in the highest of high-profile sports.
At Anniston, fans just have to learn a new last name. Jackson came on board after Rico White moved on to Mae Jemison, and the new boss brings an enlightening perspective from other parts of the state.
His career has taken him through the Mobile and Birmingham areas, and he finds Calhoun County talent eye-opening.
“What stood out to me was not only the athletic ability, but the ability to process information quick,” he said. “Our kids at Anniston understand football.
“To me, that resonates loudly just in their passion, their caring about the sport and, I guess you could say, their complete interest in the sport. Athletically, when you start talking about college football, they go to certain places. They go to Mobile, and they go to Birmingham, and now I see why they come to East Alabama. It’s definitely underrated and undervalued, and part of my job is to promote us in this area, as far as athletes.”
Freeney, who played for Jacksonville State University, brings perspective from having coached in Florida. He turned Tampa’s Pasco High School from winless in 2021 to 9-2 in 2022, his lone season as a head coach.
What’s the difference between coaching in Florida and Alabama? Resources and time.
“In Florida, they have so many resources for those student athletes there that maybe these guys don’t have,” he said. “Half my kids, we’ll finish doing 7-on-7, and they were going out and playing for another 7-on-7 team, or they’re going to their private trainer and those kinds of things.
“The one thing that I see here is, there’s so much to do there that you don’t really get to bond as a team. My guys in Florida, we’d have workouts, and as soon as workouts are over, they’re gone. I probably spend as much time with these guys than I do my own kids at home right now, and that’s not a bad thing.”
Cofer also comes from across the state line. Before working the past two seasons as Cleburne County’s offensive coordinator, he saw five head-coaching stints in Georgia: Cook High School (2010-14), Bacon County High School (2014-16), Dodge County High School (2016-18 and 2019-21) and Wilcox County High School (2018-19).
His approach starts with what works in every state.
“Weight room, to me, is number one, period,” he said. “Some people win without a weight room and working kids hard, but we don’t believe in that. We’re trying to build mental and physical toughness, and we’re trying to get after people’s tails, to be honest with you, and they have bought into it.
“It’s a learning process. We don’t know how to do some things in the weight room. It’s fast. It’s heavy, so some good technique. I am USA Weightlifting certified, and I take pride in that, in teaching these kids the right way and not letting them get injured.”
Jennings is another old face in a new place, but White Plains marks his maiden voyage as a head football coach. He was Ohatchee’s long-time defensive coordinator, though Findley describes his lifelong friend and fellow Alexandria graduate as having served more like a “co-head coach.”
Like Cofer with a Weaver program that’s won three games in four years, Jennings must overcome history. White Plains made the playoffs once, in 1994, and hasn’t enjoyed a winning season since 2003.
Jennings faces a tough sell, but he’s scored one salesmanship victory. He talked long-time White Plains head boys’ basketball coach Chris Randall onto the football staff for the first time in eight years.
Like Cofer, Jennings said he plans to start culture building in the weight room.
While Cofer said his move to Weaver was partly about the chance to lead his own program again, Jennings’ has long desired to lead a high school football program. Friday’s proceedings at Anniston Country Club offered his first chance to take the stage in that capacity.
“Being up here, that’s great, and it’s wonderful, but at the end of the day it comes back to being a leader of these kids,” Jennings said. “That’s what we do.
“I’m a (science) teacher still, too. I teach two classes during the day. When you get in this business, get in this profession, this is about building relationships with kids. At the end of the day, kids are kids, and being a leader and leading them in the right direction, it isn’t a title or any of that stuff. It’s being around them and doing things the right way.”
This story will be updated with quotes from all of the new coaches plus notes from other schools.
Media Day moments
OTHER NEW FACES: Player comings and goings came up at Media Day, and offseason moves could prove impactful in 2023.
Former Saks quarterback Gavin Doss moved to Anniston, and his move will allow Jackson to use receiver/defensive back/kick returner and Auburn commit Jayden “J-Money” Lewis in myriad ways. Jackson said.
Saks also found Doss’ replacement when Jamorris Young followed his older brother Sean Parnell’s career path. Young moved from Ohatchee and looks likely to start for Saks as a freshman, Freeney said.
“He looks like a senior,” Freeney said.
Another intriguing mover is athlete Jesse Gannaway, who moved from Pleasant Valley to Jacksonville Christian and hopes to help the Thunder return to the Alabama Christian Schools final.
Former Donoho quarterback Will Folsom participated in Media Day for Ohatchee. He transferred ahead of the spring semester and played baseball for Ohatchee. He will factor in the Indians’ race to replace graduated senior quarterback Bryce Noah.
Oxford already had a strong returning wide receiver corps with Nick Richardson and Judd Syer, and Camare Hampton transferred in from Lincoln, Adams said. The move also allows the 6-foot-4, high-jumping Jayden Lewis, the most valuable player of this year’s Calhoun County basketball tournament as a sophomore, to move from receiver to tight end.
That makes for an intriguing group of pass catchers to work with Mason Mims, a junior and second-year starter at quarterback whose offers include Mississippi State, from the SEC.
“GROWN MAN SAYS BAD WORD”: A Media Day question prompted Adams to address the reported colorful word that new Pell City coach Rush Propst yelled across the field to Adams at a 7-on-7.
Adams’ word? “Overblown.”
Adams, who has a background covering high school sports in Birmingham, questioned why the heated moment on a hot day became a story.
“I can only imagine the response I would’ve gotten if I’d brought back an article, and the headline says (in effect), ‘Grown man says bad word,'” Adams said.
As for notions of bad blood, Adams said he and Propst quickly moved on.
“In a 7-on-7 setting, there’s no fans, there’s no band, there’s no P.A.,” Adams said. “Everybody kind of hears everything. When you’re in those kinds of things, players are competing. Coaches are competing, and sometimes things get said, and should it be headline news? Absolutely not. I’m not going to fall into the trap of letting this be a coach-versus-a-coach kind of thing.
“I spoke to coach immediately after that. I’m talking seconds after what was spun in the article as a scene. What we talked about was ticket prices and parking, seconds after this whole thing. To think there’s all this animosity between coaches and programs and all of that, in the big picture, it’s simply not true. … That whole thing, in my opinion, was extremely overblown in every sense of the word.”
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