Andy Rykard, athletic director and head football coach at Hahira Middle School, spent 19 years coaching football at the varsity level, including three as a head coach. For the last two years, however, he has been at Hahira Middle School. A demotion? Not at all. He’s there by his own choice and he absolutely loves what he’s doing.
Rykard graduated from Valdosta High School, where he played football and baseball. His sophomore year, the Wildcats won a state and national title in football. He was a pitcher and infielder for the baseball team, and used his talents there to earn a scholarship at Valdosta State University. Rykard grew up playing just about everything he could, and he knew that he would play sports for as long as he could. When his playing days were over, he would go into coaching.
“I love athletics and I’ve always wanted to be around sports for as long as I can remember. There are so many correlations between athletics and life,” he said. “I want to help kids be successful. That’s what teaching and coaching are all about.”
During his 21 years in coaching, Rykard has been at Clinch County, Jeff Davis, Lanier, and Cook. He has also coached baseball along the way, including a stint coaching middle school baseball. But he had never coached middle school football until he went to Hahira. At the time, his wife, Amy, who also teaches at Hahira Middle, was in the Lowndes County system. Rykard, however, was teaching and coaching in Cook County.
“I wanted to get into the same system as Amy,” he said. I had talked to Coach [Randy] McPherson before and nothing had opened up. Then the Hahira job came available. Amy and I talked. I talked to Coach Mac again. I felt like this was a good opportunity.”
Coach Rykard got the job, and went from being an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach with the Cook Hornets to overseeing the athletic program at Hahira Middle. The schedule was less demanding. He had more time with his family, and for the first time in years, he could enjoy most of the summer. But coaching middle school is not without its own unique challenges.
“Middle school kids seem to be less focused than kids in high school,” he said. “It’s just the age they’re at. It’s not like it used to 
be. There are a lot of distractions, and there’s a lot more to do than there was when I was growing up. It takes hard work to get better, hard work every day. The kids don’t always understand it. But we’ve got a great group of players who are working hard each day.”
The objective of the middle school program is different as well. Everyone wants to win, and Rykard is always going to do everything he can to win as many games as possible. But the goal of the middle school program, especially in a system like Lowndes that has multiple middle schools, isn’t necessarily to win a lot of games. Instead, it’s to prepare the kids to play at the high school level.
“We teach them the basics of the high school program,” he said. “We want them to get better every day. We work towards the future and teach them what they need to know on the field and in the classroom.”
Right now, numbers are a little low at Hahira, which makes things difficult from an athletics standpoint. When Pine Grove Elementary opened, it pulled kids from Hahira Middle, which dropped participation numbers in all activities across the board.
“We’ve got 25-29 kids on each team,” Rykard said. “That’s not a lot of players, but they work hard. We tell them they’re working toward the future and when they reach high school and all three middle schools come together, that’s when they’ll be rewarded for all their work.”
So does Andy Rykard ever see the day when he moves up to the varsity level again? Not if he has anything to say about it.
“We enjoyed almost the whole summer this year,” he said. “I was able to see my daughters Elizabeth and Abby a lot more. There are way more positives than negatives. I absolutely love it here at Hahira Middle and I plan to stay here until I retire.”
South Georgia/Coach’s Corner/October 2014
Andy Rykard
Hahira Middle School
Hahira, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Former varsity head coach makes adjustment to middle school football
South Georgia/Coach’s Corner/October 2014
Andy Rykard
Hahira Middle School
Hahira, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Former varsity head coach makes adjustment to middle school football
Andy Rykard, athletic director and head football coach at Hahira Middle School, spent 19 years coaching football at the varsity level, including three as a head coach. For the last two years, however, he has been at Hahira Middle School. A demotion? Not at all. He’s there by his own choice and he absolutely loves what he’s doing.
Rykard graduated from Valdosta High School, where he played football and baseball. His sophomore year, the Wildcats won a state and national title in football. He was a pitcher and infielder for the baseball team, and used his talents there to earn a scholarship at Valdosta State University. Rykard grew up playing just about everything he could, and he knew that he would play sports for as long as he could. When his playing days were over, he would go into coaching.
“I love athletics and I’ve always wanted to be around sports for as long as I can remember. There are so many correlations between athletics and life,” he said. “I want to help kids be successful. That’s what teaching and coaching are all about.”
During his 21 years in coaching, Rykard has been at Clinch County, Jeff Davis, Lanier, and Cook. He has also coached baseball along the way, including a stint coaching middle school baseball. But he had never coached middle school football until he went to Hahira. At the time, his wife, Amy, who also teaches at Hahira Middle, was in the Lowndes County system. Rykard, however, was teaching and coaching in Cook County.
“I wanted to get into the same system as Amy,” he said. I had talked to Coach [Randy] McPherson before and nothing had opened up. Then the Hahira job came available. Amy and I talked. I talked to Coach Mac again. I felt like this was a good opportunity.”
Coach Rykard got the job, and went from being an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach with the Cook Hornets to overseeing the athletic program at Hahira Middle. The schedule was less demanding. He had more time with his family, and for the first time in years, he could enjoy most of the summer. But coaching middle school is not without its own unique challenges.
“Middle school kids seem to be less focused than kids in high school,” he said. “It’s just the age they’re at. It’s not like it used to be. There are a lot of distractions, and there’s a lot more to do than there was when I was growing up. It takes hard work to get better, hard work every day. The kids don’t always understand it. But we’ve got a great group of players who are working hard each day.”
The objective of the middle school program is different as well. Everyone wants to win, and Rykard is always going to do everything he can to win as many games as possible. But the goal of the middle school program, especially in a system like Lowndes that has multiple middle schools, isn’t necessarily to win a lot of games. Instead, it’s to prepare the kids to play at the high school level.
“We teach them the basics of the high school program,” he said. “We want them to get better every day. We work towards the future and teach them what they need to know on the field and in the classroom.”
Right now, numbers are a little low at Hahira, which makes things difficult from an athletics standpoint. When Pine Grove Elementary opened, it pulled kids from Hahira Middle, which dropped participation numbers in all activities across the board.
“We’ve got 25-29 kids on each team,” Rykard said. “That’s not a lot of players, but they work hard. We tell them they’re working toward the future and when they reach high school and all three middle schools come together, that’s when they’ll be rewarded for all their work.”
So does Andy Rykard ever see the day when he moves up to the varsity level again? Not if he has anything to say about it.
“We enjoyed almost the whole summer this year,” he said. “I was able to see my daughters Elizabeth and Abby a lot more. There are way more positives than negatives. I absolutely love it here at Hahira Middle and I plan to stay here until I retire.”
