GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Matt Combs, Alexander
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "My first two years of coaching were under a man named Tom Pierson, in Tucson, Ariz. He would remind me of two things every day. First, attitude is everything and everything is attitude. Second, to be a good coach, you have to be a mentor first, then a good teacher. People don't care what you know until they know you care."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "2010, Chris Conley at North Paulding was probably the most dominant player I have faced. The most difficult high school player I ever had to gameplan for was in 2011. Holland Frost was the QB for Pope. The kid was probably the slimiest high school football player. He just made play after play. He reminded me of Doug Flutie."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "2012 Sandy Creek. That team was loaded with skill at every position. Their defense probably would have ranked fourth in the SEC that year."
4. If you were Gary Phillips, the new head of the GHSA, what would be the first rule that you would try to change? "I would change the playoff system. The top two teams from each region would get an automatic bid (that would make up the first 16 teams). The next 16 teams would be decided on power points, no matter which region they are from. Then you seed all 32 teams. This way, you don't have two top-five teams playing each other in the second or third round. This would fix the problem of region inequality and the disparity of the number of teams in each region. It would make all teams play a tough non-region schedule. Teams should have to win more than two or three region games to get into the playoffs. Also, there are some of the bigger regions with 12-16 teams, that their No. 5 or No. 6 team is better than the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in other regions."
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily, a free e-mail newsletter. To join the mailing list, click here.
About the Author
