Blair Armstrong has spent most of his career rebuilding lagging programs. After more than three decades on the job, he feels like he has one more left in him. In 2013, Armstrong left Georgia after 13 years of coaching in the Peach State and returned to Florida, the state in which his career began. Specifically, Armstrong came to Jasper, where he took over the Hamilton County athletic program as athletic director and the Trojans football program as head coach. “I grew up in Monticello, and I knew the area very well. My mother, who was still living there, had gotten sick, and we were looking for an opportunity to get closer to her. This job came open, and we felt like it was a good fit,” says Coach Armstrong.
He came to Jasper with a twofold task: Revamp the athletic department as a whole and, more specifically, establish a winning tradition with the football program. Prior to Armstrong’s arrival, the football program hadn’t enjoyed much success. Throughout Armstrong’s coaching career, he has taken a number of programs that weren’t particularly successful and turned them around. It’s something he’s familiar and comfortable with. “I guess I’ve built eight or nine programs in my career. I figured I could do it one more time,” he says. In the process, he has won a pair of state titles – one with Jefferson County, Florida, and another with Peachtree Ridge.
One of the keys to turning around any program is to change the expectations. Kids have to believe they can win. They must understand that when they step on the field, they are as prepared and ready to play as their opponents. To facilitate that, the players must trust their coaches and believe that their coaches are doing what’s best for them individually and as a team. “We had to bring in a positive attitude. We came in with a new style of play and a positive attitude. I’m a positive motivator, but I’m also a disciplinarian. At the same time, I want the kids to have fun. That’s why they play football – to have fun – and I want to make sure it’s fun for the kids. I keep motivating, encouraging, building up. That’s the way I was coached, and I don’t know any other way,” he says.
These are objectives he applies specifically to the football program, but they are applicable to any sport at any school. And while no one sport is more important than another, Coach Armstrong has found that it is often the football team that sets the athletic tone for the rest of the sports. “It starts with football. It’s often the most popular sport in a community, and it’s the earliest sport in the year. The kids and the community rally around football. It creates energy for the other sports. If you can be successful early in the year, it breeds excitement for the rest of the program,” he says.
Armstrong, who arrived in Jasper in April of 2013, brought with him a 5-3 defense and a wing-T offense. This year, he is moving away from the traditional wing-T and spreading things out a bit. It’s a hybrid type of offense that will utilize multiple formations and sets. Some folks call schemes like Armstrong’s a sling-T. He doesn’t particularly like that description, but the moniker does put everyone on notice; the Trojan offense will be versatile, fast-paced, and hard to defend. While there are a few changes in terminology and a lot of changes in terms of expectations, Armstrong’s schemes aren’t that different than what the Trojans ran before he took the job. “It’s not a big change for them. The basic scheme is very similar to what they did in the past,” he says.
How did the kids react to the changes last season? Upon Armstrong’s arrival, he had 24 players. There were that many or more walking the halls of Hamilton County High who had played in the past but weren’t participating when Armstrong took over. He and his staff went to work, trying to get some of those kids back in pads. By the end of the season, there were 52 players on the team, and the Trojans had finished 5-6 and made a trip to the playoffs for the first time in several years.
Coach Armstrong gives the kids all of the credit for the success they enjoyed last year. They bought into what he wanted to do, and they worked extremely hard to get better each and every week. “We spent a lot of time in the weight room. That’s important to our program. We also installed a complete program – offseason conditioning and speed drills, weight room work, everything,” he says. “The kids weren’t afraid to work. They’re rural young men who don’t mind going to work and getting dirty and hot.”
In the playoffs, the Trojans lost to eventual state champion Trenton High School. Hamilton played Trenton close but lost two key players during the game. In the second half, Trenton pulled away at the end. “The kids saw how close they came last year to beating a state champion. This year, they want to win it all. They want to win the gold,” he says.
Coach Armstrong had achieved one of his primary goals with the success of the football team. So how did the rest of the Hamilton County athletic program do? The softball team went to the playoffs. The baseball team made the postseason with a first-year head coach and, like the football team, lost to an eventual state champion. The basketball team, which had been one of the more consistent teams at Hamilton County, played for a state championship this year. “We taught the kids to fight, to never give up, to never quit. There were games this year that they battled through when they may have given up in the past. They also got in the weight room this year, which is something they hadn’t done as much of in the past,” says Coach Armstrong.
All in all, Armstrong is very pleased with how his first year as athletic director turned out. “I’ve said it takes a community to build a program. The teams here have been competitive, but we had to put it all together. We have a great administration, a positive staff, and great support. That’s why we came here. What programs need to succeed is there in most communities. You just have to light the fire,” he says.
After coaching for 35 years, Armstrong believes Hamilton County might be his last stop. “I live for seeing programs go from not winning to making the playoffs. I love turning programs around. But I’ve been doing this a long time. I will probably stick around for five or six years then relax. This will probably be my last one,” he says.
Special Feature/South Georgia/June 2014
Blair Armstrong leads resurgence of Hamilton County program
Robert Preston, Jr.
Coach Armstrong will coach a few good seasons get bored and move on. He always has once his best players graduate he will be gone. Just like in banks county. The team hasnt won more than 4 games since he abandoned it after swearing it was his last stop. Dont buy in he will be gone soon.