4 Questions With River Ridge Football Coach Michael Collins
We spoke with River Ridge football coach Michael Collins about his team’s surprisingly successful 2020 season and what we can expect in 2021.
Q: What path brought you to River Ridge High School as their head coach?
A: After rebuilding the Wheeler High program, I thought River Ridge would be a good fit for me. River Ridge is my forth head coaching opportunity. I started my career at Pebblebrook High School, where we won a region championship. After three seasons, I moved to Chamblee High School, where I spent two years and enjoyed back-to-back playoff appearances. After that, I took over Wheeler High School, a program that had won one game in two years. After three playoff appearances and a top-10 state ranking, I felt it was time for a new challenge. I started my career in Cherokee County, so River Ridge was somewhat familiar to me.
Q: What was the culture like there at River Ridge when you first took over?
A: The kids were hard workers. However, I felt like they lacked confidence and consistency. There was a great deal of community support and a deep hunger for success. The rebuilding process started with establishing accountability and creating confidence through better habits on and off the field, particularly in the weight room.
Q: Last year was a special year for River Ridge High School football, wasn’t it?
A: We had a great run. It was very surprising to must people, starting with our first county win. We had an undefeated regular season, which led to our first region championship. We won the first playoff game in school history. We completed our season with a quarterfinals appearance and an 11-1 overall record. We finished with a top-10 state ranking in most all postseason polls. These achievements would have been outstanding for any program. However, this success was magnified for our school because River Ridge had only experienced one other winning season in the school’s existence.
Q: How is this upcoming team looking so far? Do you feel pressure to repeat the success you guys had last year?
A: Our guys are working hard. We have a lot of players returning. This will be uncharted territory for us. We have never been in a situation in which predictions are in our favor. However, if we stick to our philosophy of blocking out the outside noise and only focusing on our daily tasks, we should be fine.
Written by: Phil Jones
