Back when Michael Woolridge roamed the hallways of Hardaway High School as a student and football athlete, he developed a strong bond with the school. Even after he graduated in 2000, Woolridge looked back on his time at Hardaway as some of the best years of his life.
“I have always had a love for Hardaway High School,” he said.
The same is true for Jonathon Burton. Like Woolridge, Burton was also a football athlete at Hardaway. Even before he graduated in 2005, Burton formulated a career plan to work his way back to the Home of the Hawks.
“I had an initial goal, my bucket list goal you might say, to coach football at Hardaway,” Burton said with a smile.
In 2015 Woolridge was named head football coach at Hardaway. The 2016 football season was his first heading up the football program, and this past spring he brought Burton on board as an assistant coach.
It appears for all intents and purposes the two former Hardaway athletes have come home.
While it isn’t all that unusual to have alumni return to work as teachers and coaches in schools they attended, it is a little unusual in that these two former students actually planned on returning to their alma mater.
“We grew up around each other,” Woolridge said. “We knew each other, and about four or five years ago we started talking about coming back here as coaches.”
When the talented tight end and outside linebacker played at Hardaway, the school knew some success with its football programs. Wooldridge recalled his junior year, the 1998 football season, as being the most memorable during his time at the school. The Hawks went 10-2, and morale was high for both the team and its fans.
Woolridge, a special education teacher at HHS, attended Eastern Kentucky on an athletic scholarship. Later, he came back to the area and once coached at Hardaway as part of then-head coach Jeff Battles’ coaching staff from 2008-10. During that time, the Hawks experienced their last winning season to date.
Woolridge moved over to Jordan Vocational High School as offensive and defensive coordinator for four seasons. The Jordan football program improved during his time there, but when Battles stepped down as head football coach at Hardaway, Woolridge saw his chance to return to his former school and take over the football program. All along the way, Woolridge never lost his love for Hardaway.
“Even when I was coaching at other schools, if Hardaway played on Thursday or Saturday, I was there,” Woolridge said. “I was in the stands. I supported Hardaway long before I came back here.”
Burton’s road back to Hardaway came by way of some local middle schools.
After graduating from Hardaway, the former middle linebacker and offensive guard attended Albany State University and graduated with a dual major in health and physical education and recreation. He spent some time as a parapro working his way into his hometown school system and later taught at another middle school before landing at Richards Middle School.
At Richards, Burton coached for four years, the last three as head football coach. During his time as head coach with the Warriors football program, Burton’s record was 22-2. He had three undefeated regular seasons and won a city middle school championship. Richards Middle School has traditionally been known as a “feeder” school for Hardaway since the two schools are located in close proximity. Burton was getting closer, literally and figuratively, to Hardaway.
While Woolridge and Burton were coaching at other schools, they would often cross paths and talk Hawks football. The two loyal alums were disappointed by the football program’s series of losing seasons. Their talks turned to “what ifs,” and coaching plans were talked over. When Woolridge was named Hardaway’s head football coach in 2015, Burton was excited about the prospect of Hardaway returning to a winning tradition under Woolridge’s direction.
This past spring a spot opened up for another coach in the HHS football program, and Woolridge brought Burton on board. The 30-year-old teaches physical education at the school and works as an assistant coach for Woolridge. It was the culmination of their strategic planning to get there but only the beginning for their vision of returning Hardaway’s football teams to an era of winning.
“Who better than us?” Burton said. “We are invested in this school and in its traditions. We know what it is like to be here and really want to win as athletes. Now we want the same things as coaches.”
Their enthusiasm for the future of the program is contagious. It helps that Woolridge’s first season was 4-5 as compared to the previous 1-9 record. However, the head coach isn’t content with improvement.
“We want to build a legacy here,” Woolridge said. “Short term is playoffs or nothing. The long term is Hardaway becoming a dynasty of winning teams.”
The head coach and his assistant said they feel blessed to have the opportunity to return to the school as educators. Their lives were impacted by the instruction and experiences they had on this same campus where they now work. It’s something they have never forgotten.
“I feel like I never left Hardaway,” Woolridge said.
Nodding his head in agreement, Burton summed it all up: “Once a Hawk, always a Hawk.”
Columbus Valley/October 2017
Hardaway High Coaches
Hardaway High School
Columbus, Georgia
By Beth Welch
Photos by George McDuffie
Hardaway High School Football Coaches Come Home
