New Hartselle Tigers head football coach shares his insights

Tell the readers a little about yourself.

I love Jesus first and foremost. My wife Brooke and I have been married for 11 years. We have two children, Blakely Brooke, who is 3, and Roman, who is 19 months.

What made the Hartselle job stand out to you?

Hartselle has great athletic tradition, is second to none academically and has a great community that is appealing to anyone.  The administration in the school system has been unbelievable, and we thoroughly love it here. When you combine all of the above, Hartselle is definitely a tough place to beat.  We hope to be here for a long time.

Talk about your coaching career to this point. Especially, what have you learned since your first head coaching job when you were 23 years old?

I took my first head job at 23, and I was definitely not prepared. I learned a great deal about myself and about teaching high school athletes.

In many ways, I am still the same guy over 10 years later. I still love life, kids and football. I’ve learned more scheme over the years and have become a better program manager, but what I’ve learned more than anything is that you have to be true to who you are and to what you believe in. For me, that’s my faith, my family and our kids in the program. We want to build men of integrity.

What made you choose to get into coaching after college?

Being a high school coach allows me to have an impact on young people at such an impressionable age. Many of our young people today are searching for guidance and instruction. I did not set out to be in this profession, but God made it evident that this is what he has called me to do.  

I have loved every day of it. Good times and bad, I would not trade what I do for any other profession in the world.

Is there anything else that you would like to say?

God bless, and go Tigers!