GHSF Daily's Four Questions feature historically poses the same questions to a different Georgia head coach each issue. This season, head coaches are being asked Four Questions tailored to current events. Today's interviewee is Crisp County coach Brad Harber, whose team defeated Thomasville 42-38 on Friday. Crisp County was written off by some in preseason after three Division I recruits transferred just weeks before the first game. The Cougars (4-3) have beaten three larger schools and now one ranked smaller school (Thomasville was No. 3 in Class AA) and enters October as the team to beat again in Region 1-AAA.
Brad Harber, Crisp County
1. Though the teams hadn't played each other in 25 years, Crisp County had been 1-20-1 all-time against Thomasville until Friday. What did the victory mean for the program? "It was really, really big because I know Coach [Zach] Grage and what kind of program they're running, and I know the support and tradition of Thomasville. To beat a quality team and coaching staff is a tremendous feather in our hat. Any time you lose some great players in the summertime or to graduation, everybody involved in the program asks if we can be any good. Friday night confirmed that we can still be a good football team."
2. How did the team respond to the sudden transfers? [RB/CB Jammie Robinson and DL DeAngelo Griffin went to Lee County; three-year starting QB Patrick Felton went to Tift County.]"The three that left are very talented football players. So, the concern that I had initially was not so much for the coaching staff, but maybe the confidence of our football team as a whole. But that worry didn't linger with me because the players did a great job of stepping up, and we've moved on. They handled it really, really well. One thing we talk about around here a lot is not worrying about things that are out of our control. We put our nose to the grindstone and worked hard. As far as the community goes, the support has been tremendous. It never wavered, but getting a great win against a great Thomasville team really sparks that interest again. We reeled everybody back in. They're getting their blue and gold back out of the closet."
3. You got the head coaching job in June of 2017, just two months before the opener, when coach Shelton Felton was hired at UTC-Chattanooga. What was that transition like? "It was literally a whirlwind. I had interviewed for head jobs, so I had an idea of what I wanted to do and believed in. Coach Felton is a heck of a coach, and he made that foundation. [Crisp's semifinal finish in Felton's second season, 2016, was the school's best playoff run since 1995.] A lot was in place. We just continued it. There's no sense fixing something that ain't broken. The biggest thing in year two is that I've been able to hire some guys I thought would do a good job with the program, because we had some guys leave after Coach Felton left."
4. Crisp County won region titles teams in the 1980s under Sam Barrs and in the 1990s under Clay Hill but had been mostly mediocre until Felton arrived. What do you need to sustain the recent success? [Harber joined Felton's staff in 2016.] "You have to have good players, no question. You have to have good coaches. You have to have support from the administration. The community support for our program is literally second to none. Those things are in place. Stability is the important thing. Cordele is a place that's produced great athletes. But before Coach Felton, there had been a problem with stability of head coaches and staff. Clay Hill was here for a long time, and he had success. I'm close with him. I'm not planning on going anywhere. I don't care who calls me, I just like it here. Football in Cordele means a lot. We're trying to establish a program that year in and year out is one you hear about and are concerned about playing, like Peach County or Calhoun. We've had some great players over these three years, and there's some great ones coming. It's nice to be a Cougar right now."
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