1. Talk about the success you’ve enjoyed at Frederica Academy. What’s it like to coach at the St. Simons school?
“It has been challenging, to say the least, to take a program in its infancy and try to build something at a small school with a very small population of students. There have been a lot of hours put into our success as coaches and players. We have been successful because of our work ethic and buy in from the kids. We do not always have the greatest athletes, but as a whole our kids work extremely hard academically and athletically. We just played Monticello this past Friday and hadn’t practiced in two weeks and were missing four starters again. Needless to say, we’ve had our share of COVID problems.”

2. What’s the biggest misconception about private school football?
“I think the biggest misconception is that people think the coaching isn’t very good, but some coaches have to work with what they have, and that small pool of athletes can be really challenging if you as a coach are married to scheme. However, most of the coaches at our level are extremely good and learned how to adapt to their players and skill sets. I have run the Power I, Spread-No Huddle, Wishbone, to this season evolving to a one-back set with spread elements. You either adapt or die at this level.”

3. You had the pleasure of coaching two of the more special players ever to suit up in GISA in Jaylin Simpson and Ja’shawn Sheffield. What was it like coaching those young men, and where are they now?
“Some days it was a challenge because they were gifted athletes, but as they matured, they understood what their roles were on the team and how they could make the greatest contribution. They were fun to watch and almost every day came to practice with a workmanship attitude. Jaylin starts at corner for Auburn and was named Freshman Player of the Week first week of the season, and Ja’shawn transferred to Middle Tennessee State this past year at wide receiver.”

4. There have been several successful GISA programs that have made the switch to GHSA. Have you and your school’s administration talked about the possibility of doing that, and, if so, what have those conversations been like?
“We were supposed to make the move to GHSA within three years of my arrival, but we have had many administrative changes over the last eight years, and that has hindered the process. Currently, I do not see FA being able to make the move to GHSA any time soon because our class sizes are too small. We only have about 380 total students on campus from PK to 12th grade. Our average high school class size is about 40 kids a class.”