It’s a new day for the Hardaway High School football program.
Winning seasons seemed to elude the Hawks as of late and after posting a disappointing 1-9 season in 2015, the former HHS head football resigned to allow the program to go in a new direction. Shortly after the new direction came in the form of a familiar face. Michael Woolridge, who graduated from Hardaway in 2000, was named to the position. Woolridge had returned once before as an assistant coach at Hardaway from 2008-10. When he was tapped to take the Hardaway job, Woolridge was an assistant coach at Jordan Vocational High School.
Although the record from last season doesn’t portray it, there are positives about the program. Woolridge came right out of the box proclaiming those positives.
First, there are seven returning offensive starters and six returning defensive starters. Second, a lot of underclassmen played last season which allowed them to gain the necessary experience to step up as leaders on the field this season. Third, 11 of his players for 2016 are considered college prospects. And fourth, several members of last year’s coaching staff remained providing stability.
This is the coach’s first year as head football coach but he has learned lessons from his playing days and being under the tutelage of other coaches. For the offense, his coaching philosophy is to control the clock, make first downs and no (with an emphasis on no) three and outs. For the defense, it’s pretty simple. Know your assignment, be great at tackling and fly to the football. Woolridge says “this is what I learned from the old school coaches and it has never failed me. Run the football and play good defense.”
When a new head coach takes over a program, there are issues of building trust and motivating athletes. Woolridge addressed both by giving his athletes a purpose, to make them feel like they are a part of something special.
“Athletes will work harder for someone they know genuinely believes in them, cares about them and is committed to helping them achieve their potential. At the heart of player motivation is the quality of the coach-athlete relationship,” he says.
Academics are important in every high school football program. At Hardaway, Woolridge’s standard of 3.0 GPA for his team is a goal for 2016 season. He wants to place more emphasis on the classroom. Excellence in the classroom transcends to the field and home. One point he makes is that if athletes want to be recruited, it starts with the classroom.
Woolridge’s second goal is to make the playoffs. He has constructed a coaching staff he hopes will help lead his team to that end. New additions to his coaching line-up include former Brookstone football coach Blair Harrison. Harrison’s offensive staff has three coaches who are placing an emphasis on attention to detail. Woolridge moved Hawks defensive coordinator Zach Schrage from the offense where he and three other coaches are igniting the defense.
The third goal set by Woolridge has little to do with football. The Hardaway coach wants his seniors on the team to be either in military service, attending post-secondary education schools or have job placement within three months of graduation, citing, “We need to create productive members of society.”
One other new concept Woolridge brought along involves community service. Some academic programs and school organizations require participating students to perform community service. Not many athletic programs do. Woolridge implemented a requirement for players to perform 10 hours of community service this summer. The former high school and college athlete hope to instill in his athletes the notion that giving back reaps great rewards.
This fall, Woolridge has a schedule facing formidable competition. He’s particularly looking forward to playing rival teams like Columbus and Harris County. High school football sometimes is a small world. Woolridge has a personal connection to the coaching staffs of those schools. Columbus High’s Phil Marino coached Woolridge at Hardaway and he was a teammate with Marino’s son.
He worked under Coach Zac Howard at Harris County when Howard was the defensive coordinator at the school. Now that Howard is the head coach there, Woolridge says it will be fun to play HCHS. As a side note, the newbie coach says he often talks to Howard about football and looks to him as a mentor.
It’s a new day for football at Hardaway and the Hawks are poised to rise again.
Hardaway Hawks
Hawks Looking To Soar Higher With New Coach and Staff
Written by Beth Welch
Photo by George McDuffie
