Bacon County High School recently hired Ken Cofer as the 23rd head football coach in the school’s 64-year history. Cofer, who succeeds Hildrick Garrison, comes to BCHS from Cook High School in Adel. There, he led the Hornets to a 32-15 mark over four seasons, with state playoff berths each season. In 2010, Cofer’s first season as head coach, he led CHS to the second most wins in the program’s history (12). Now he has his sights set on doing the same thing at Bacon.
“I want to build a program,” says Cofer (32-15 career record). “I want to win. We’re about championships. It’s time for that and it has been time. Why would you play something and not want to be the best?”
A native of Dallas, Georgia, Cofer graduated from Paulding County High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of West Georgia and earned his social science certification through Jacksonville State University. He subsequently obtained master’s, specialist, and doctorate degrees, all through the United States Sports Academy. Cofer’s wife Stacy is also a professional educator. His stepdaughter, Brynlie is a current high school student. Cofer also has two daughters living in Lakeland, Georgia. The devoted father says his desire to provide the best for his family while remaining close to all of his children prompted pursuit of the Bacon County opportunity.
“I want to be a good dad,” Cofer says. “I want to be there for my girls and this is my limit on distance. I’m going to spend time with my family. That’s number one.”
Education and athletics are in Cofer’s blood. His father was a football coach, his mother a teacher. That upbringing has helped Cofer craft his family-first philosophy and it has been a successful formula thus far. His Cook Hornets posted four straight winning seasons from 2010-13. The last and only other time that happened under the same head coach at Cook was 1961-67, when Bobby Rich was at the helm. Now Cofer wants to duplicate that type success at BCHS.
“I saw Bacon County in a passing tournament two or three years ago and our coaching staff was going, “Holy cow! Where did Bacon get those athletes?’” notes Cofer. “The last time we had seen Bacon was in 2005 and they didn’t look that way then. I actually saw some film on the Pierce-Bacon game and somebody said, ‘Coach, you need to look into that; the job is open. So I drove over here one Saturday and looked around about an hour and a half, then I came back for an interview. They were just good, down-home people, hungry to win; a small town where there’s nothing else to do on a Friday night but go to a football game.”
The Red Raiders went 4-6 last season after notching consecutive regular-season winning campaigns for the first time since 1987-88. Cofer says maintaining a top-flight weight program is a vital toward building a championship program. He has been on campus since January 21 and has been personally supervising the BCHS weight program while helping map out the finishing touches of the weight facility at the new Bacon County High School.
“Ryan Kineard will be coming from South Carolina; he is going to be our weight room coach,” says Cofer. “As far as what went into the weight room – color, design, how many machines here and there – I got to do all that with Ryan. It’s going to be a jam-up place. The community is going to be proud of it.”
The new BCHS weight facility will feature separate rooms for high school and middle school athletes. Dozens of returning players as well as rising freshmen have been working diligently in the existing facility to prepare for spring football drills. Cofer says he anticipates some 55 high school athletes reporting for spring along with about 20 current eighth graders. “It’s just me now, but Coach Kineard and other coaches will be joining us soon. Every kid will get coached and every kid will get reps.”
Cofer has plans for the Red Raiders to feature a multiple-style offense in the grain of Pierce County, but perhaps with more running. And while the offensive scheme may not always be wide open, he says the Red Raiders’ style of play will be. Cofer wants “go-getters” who at the same time aren’t afraid to show humility.
“I’m not perfect, but the good Lord keeps me going,” he says. “We’re going to preach the word here. We pray in the weight room every Friday before we leave for the weekend. A lot of good Christian people have supported me, even in dark times. I have no complaints about Adel or Cook High School and it will be the same thing here in Alma. We had good kids there that worked their tails off. They were 140-150 pound kids and they thought they were supposed to run through a brick wall. I’m very proud of that. ”
Cofer looks to re-establish a sense of stability at BCHS, where he becomes the fourth head coach in five seasons. “Alma is my home to me,” he says. “I’m going to put my heart and soul into wherever I am. There’s one thing I can promise you: I’ll never lie to you. I don’t want to be a coach that moves around.” With the advent of the new BCHS and its facilities, including a new stadium, there’s plenty of buzz in Bacon County. “It’s going to be exciting on a Friday night in Alma, I promise you,” says Cofer.
Due to some inaccuracies and misquotes in the March 2014 article regarding new Bacon County head football coach Ken Cofer, In the Game Magazine felt it necessary to re-run a corrected version. The In the Game publisher and staff are deeply regretful for any misrepresentation that the previous article alluded to or insinuated.
Bacon/Southeast/April, 2014
Cofer Takes the Reins
Story by John Dupont
