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 Riverside Military Academy head coach Nicholas Garrett, whose team defeated previous No. 3 Commerce 20-19 last week in a Class A game. It was Riverside's first victory over a ranked GHSA opponent. Though the Eagles won a GISA championship in 2005, they had been 0-22 against ranked opponents in the GHSA. Garrett came to Riverside from the West Coast in 2017 on the recommendation of his associate head coach and defensive coordinator, Jason Pleasant. The two grew up together in Oxnard, Calif.
Nicholas Garrett, Riverside Military head coach
1. Tell us about Riverside Military. It's obviously not a traditional Georgia high school. What would people need to know? "We are a military boarding school that is a college-prep institute. We have kids from all over the nation. Let me give you some specifics because it blows people's minds. We have cadets from 25 states and 30 nations. I've coached cadets from Russia, Ukraine, China, Viet Nam, Korea, you name it. Our kids come here for a multitude of reasons. Some of it is parents wanting the structure and discipline of a military mode. Less than five percent actually enter the armed services, but we do have quite a few kids who go on to serve in service academies. Parents are also attracted to the college prep and rigorous curriculum. We do an exceptional job of placing kids into the four-year institutions across the country."
2. What are the challenges that a coaching staff has at a school like Riverside, and what are some of the advantages? "One advantage is that our student-athletes are around each other 24-7. That is a benefit. One downside of an international school is that they have two months off in the summer, so we have just one and a half weeks together before playing our first game. We don't have a whole lot of time to practice, just an hour and a half each day. That's if nothing else is going on at the school. For the Commerce week, we had a film shoot on our campus, so we practiced 30 minutes on Monday, 45 minutes the next day. Wednesday we had an hour and 15, and then Thursday we had a JV games, so half our roster played in that and the others did a walk through for half an hour. So, we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for the No. 1 team in our division, so that made the win even more special if people knew what our week looked like."
3. What was the significance of (and community reaction to) the Commerce win? "It's been an overwhelming sense of joy throughout the community and campus. I've had countless phone calls, e-mails and text messages. I've been running into alumni at the grocery store and everywhere else, and they know who I am and say they couldn't be more proud and excited for what we've accomplished. Commerce was an exceptional team and coached by an exceptional guy. They were the most polite and respectful team we've played in the past two years. It's a true testament to what they've done there. They're really a stand-up program."
4. What's the potential of football at Riverside? "RMA football can be great for years to come as long as athletics is fully supported by the school and quality future cadets who desire college prep and want to compete at a high level come to RMA. Out of 19 seniors, five have scholarship offers. Just like anything, you get what you put into it. We have to invest in our kids and make them feel valuable as human beings outside of the game of football. If you make those relationships, they'll want to be part of something special."
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