Same game, new attitude.
That was the message from new Tharptown High School varsity head football coach Brian White after he took the reins of the program earlier this week.
“We’re going to be very persistent in the things that we do, and that’s going to be the name of the game,” White told the Franklin Free Press. “It’s the same game, but we’re going to be preaching a new attitude.
“We’re going to be high energy, and we want our players to be high energy,” he added. “We’re going to get things done, and we’ll see what the results are on Friday night. It’s not going to be pretty at first, but the plan is for the end result to be very pretty.”
White, who has over three decades of football coaching experience in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama, was hired at the Franklin County Schools Board of Education meeting on June 3. He replaced former head coach John Johnson, who went 1-19 in two seasons at THS.
“We are very excited to have Coach Brian White as the new football coach at Tharptown High School,” Tharptown High School principal Dr. Tyler Berryman said. “Coach John Johnson worked hard at laying a foundation for the football program, and we believe Coach White will build on that foundation. Coach White has 37 years of experience coaching football and many of those as a successful head coach building football programs. He will definitely be an asset to Tharptown High School.”
White, who has spent most of his career as a defensive coordinator, has had a few head coaching stops along the way, including one in Alabama—Sulligent High School in 2003. White said he’s been a part of rebuilding—or building—programs in the past; he knows what it takes, and he relishes the challenge.
“I’ve had three different stints as a head coach, and two of those were similar to this one where you basically go in and have to build it from the ground up,” he said. “I’ve had a few opportunities as a defensive coordinator, also, where they were complete rebuilds and had pretty good success doing that. I really enjoy doing that.
“You get to watch the kids grow in the program. You do a little recruiting in the high school, but you want to get kids involved at the junior high level and watch them grow and mature in the program,” he added.
White said he knows there’s a desire in the community for the Wildcats to have a successful football program. An important task in front of him is getting students to be involved with the program and dedicated to seeing that desire come to fruition.
“From what I’ve seen already there’s pride in the community itself. We’ve just got to establish some pride in the football community,” White said. “I know there are people that want to see an established football program and that’s why I’m here.
“We’re going to start from the ground up, and recruit as many kids at the junior high level as we can into the program,” he added.
“We want everyone that wants to be a part of what we’re trying to do. The athletes that are already there at the school, they can either watch us do it or they can help us do it, but things are fixing to change.”
Of course, it won’t be just as easy as putting on a helmet. There will be growing pains. The process may be painful at first, White said, but he believes the program can get to where it wants to be.
“It’s not going to be a quick fix. You can’t go into a program like (Tharptown) and just put a band-aid on it. You could come in and do a little trickery on offense and stuff like that and maybe steal a game or two here and there, but we want to build a program. That’s the MO behind all of this—to build a program that is long sustaining,” he said.
“In the world we live in today everyone wants to get results now. You can get results now, but they’re not going to last. There are certain programs that always seem to be successful…and it’s because they do things the right way. In the weight room, in practice, on the field—we’re going to do things the right way.”
“We want to change the face of this program in a very positive way,” White added. “We’re a little old school in what we do, but the foundation that we build is one that’s going to last for a long time.”
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
