We spoke with Cartersville football coach Conor Foster about his coaching influences and style and how community support makes all the difference when it comes to developing a successful football program.

Q: Who would you say was your biggest influence that got you into coaching?

A: At a very young age, God put a calling on my heart to become a teacher and a coach. This mission field affords me meaningful opportunities to make impactful relationships with our players in the hopes that their lives and, in turn, our communities will be transformed.

My father and grandfather were both coaches. Growing up in a coaching family in a small town allowed me to see how teachers and coaches can have profound influences on generations of families. I am grateful to have grown up in Cartersville where I had the opportunity to watch and learn from so many incredible coaches.

Along with my family, I was blessed to learn from Coach Earwood’s and Coach Barden’s coaching staffs. As a coach, I have worked for three tremendous leaders that I love and respect: Coach Shane Davis, Coach Rayvan Teague, and Coach Joey King. I have been so blessed to have been surrounded by so many exceptional leaders.

Q: Some head coaches are more hands-on than others, by having a hand in the offensive or defensive play calling. How much do you delegate versus taking a hands-on approach?

A: I started my coaching career as a quarterbacks and defensive line coach at Apalachee High School with head coach Shane Davis. Throughout his career, Coach Davis had served as both an offensive and defensive coordinator.

As a young coach, my short-term goals were on the offensive side of the ball, but I was encouraged by Coach Davis to consider a move to defense because of my aspirations to become a head coach. Seeing Coach Davis’s knowledge and comfort level on the grass, in film rooms, and in meetings in every phase of the game left a huge impression on me.

My time at Carrollton with Coach Rayvan Teague, who had also been an offensive and defensive play caller, affirmed my ambition. At Cartersville, I learned a ton of football and about leading a program from Coach Joey King.

When I first got the opportunity to serve Cartersville as its head football coach, I coordinated the defense and special teams. Now, we are very blessed at Cartersville to have three tremendous coordinators that are exceptional leaders: Coach JJ Chatmon (defense), Coach Joel Miller (offense), and Coach Wade Stewart (special teams). I am still very involved because I love coaching the game, but I trust and work alongside each of them to grow our program and to put our team in position to be successful.

Q: Cartersville has quite a tradition of producing great football teams as well as great players. What makes it such a great community and program?

A: Our football program is successful because of tremendous community support. Great programs, like ours, are bigger than individual players and coaches. Our program has enjoyed continued success because we have great community investment to go along with great talent and administrative support.

Our players understand that they are playing for the betterment of our program, which means they have a standard to uphold. We are the legacy of all those great teams and players that came before us. Our players play for the “CANES” on their chest, and that means the world to them.

With that privilege comes the great responsibility of using our voice and influence to have a positive impact on our community and the next generation of Purple Hurricanes. Our community embraces its football program as one of the means by which our young adults learn to be servants and leaders. It is our ambition to be a championship program in every measure.

Q: Your team is undefeated so far this season and is playing well with a very tough opponent approaching. Can you tell us what similarities you see between this team and the 2020 team that made it to the 5A state championship?

A: We graduated a ton of talent and leadership from the 2020 team. However, our culture and belief system hasn’t changed. The 2021 Cartersville football program is part of the legacy of the 2020 team. It’s important in our program to teach the next team and the next generation of players to play to the standard. We graduated an incredibly talented senior class, but those leaders taught this group how to work, how to lead, and how to serve our community.

Offensively, this team is unique in that we rely a little more on the run game to open up opportunities for our passing attack. Defensively, we have taken a little bit different approach by rotating a ton of players, which has created great depth.

This group has been a ton of fun to coach because they have been completely bought in to our vision for making the 2021 season a success. Our coaches have done a tremendous job of communicating roles and expectations, and the players have embraced the changes.

Written by: Phil Jones