Griff Hill, coordinator for secondary programs, and the person responsible for putting the event together, thought it was a success.
“I really feel like this gave coaches the opportunity to bring their players and get them some exposure,” Hill said. ”With practice starting on Monday, the timing was good, and it was just a good opportunity. Our coaches met here all day for staff development for Talladega County School System. They had the opportunity to network with other coaches and things of that nature. I think for this being our first media day, I think it went really well.”
Hill said setting a platform for county coaches and players has been something that he has wanted to do for a while.
“This has been an idea of mine for a couple of years, and I have seen where the larger school systems in the Birmingham area do it,” Hill said. “It was just a good opportunity to get our programs some exposure.”
The seminar that the coaches have to attend as well as the golf tournament that will be held today will give the five new coaches in the area a chance to meet with the other coaches.
“We are going to have a golf tournament on Friday for coaches throughout the county,” Hill said. “It gives our coaches a chance to get together and get to know one another in more of a relax environment. We have a lot of knew coaches in the county. I think of the 10 programs we have in the county, five of them will be under new leadership of a new coach this year. This gives them an opportunity for our coaches to get together and get to know one another in a competitive kind of event, but also have a good time as we get ready for football practice to get started on Monday morning.”
The coaches spent the morning getting valuable information from representatives of various associations, which is vital for them going into the season.
“We had Wanda Gilliland from the High School Athletic Association was here to talk about the issues with the High School Association,” Hill said. “We had Mark Jones from the officials association to talk about issues with officiating. Then, we had Dr. Clinton Gray and his medical team was here to talk about medical related issues. Superintendent Dr. Lacey was here to address the coach. She relayed to our people, our coaches her expectations out as them as far as behavior and other things of that nature. She also let them know how much she appreciated the work and what athletics mean to the overall process to educating young people.”
Getting a chance to see other coaches from around the county is one of the things that B.B. Comer head coach Anthony Jacks enjoyed.
“I thought it was a really good idea,” Jacks said. ”It was good to get all the coaches right before we started. We get to see people that we won’t see for a while, of course, we will be playing them. Us football guys will be doing our own thing for 10 weeks, at least. We really don’t get out too much when it is football season, so it was a good way to catch up with some guys that you don’t see.”
Fayetteville head coach John Limbaugh is one of the five new coaches in Talladega County this season.
“It was great,” Limbaugh said. “It got the coaches together to talk about things such as heat-related illness and to talk about our responsibilities as coaches and what we do for our players. It was all good; I really though Griff Hill did a great job with it.”
