Today's interviewee is Bob Sphire, head coach at Camden County. Camden was 3-7 in Sphire's first season, 7-4 in 2018 and now 1-0 with a couple of top-10 state rankings. He previously coached at North Gwinnett and led the Bulldogs to state finals in 2007 and 2013.
Bob Sphire, Camden County head coach
1. This year's team has a great nucleus of underclassmen such as LT Micah Morris, WR Shawn Hardy, RB Jamie Felix and LB Jadin Jones. Linemen Kiison Kennedy and Noah Demeritt are also rising performers. How far along is the team now, and what were some of the biggest challenges you faced getting things turned around? "We're better. Truly, when we got here, some of the best football players weren't playing. They were struggling with living up the community's expectations. So they were way down, more than I anticipated. The most tell-tale signs were the numbers in the weight room. You can't hide in 7A ball if you can't compete physically. Then they faced the challenge of a significant change from 25 years of the Wing-T offense to spread football. We really had nobody who could throw it or catch it or run a pass route and get off jams. It was a dramatic change, and you can't fake that. It's a process that takes time."
2. You credit improvement to a strong coaching staff and speak about 'four leadership positions' within that staff as you've taken on more of a managerial role at Camden compared to North Gwinnett. What can you tell us about that? "If you're going to mention any names, you have to mention all four. David Shores is the defensive coordinator. He has a ton of autonomy to run the system, and he's done a good job with the defense. He and Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp were together at LSU under Nick Saban. David then went back into high school coaching in Alabama and was later Lowndes' defensive coordinator. Shawn Jackson, our offensive coordinator, is the one guy that I said I'd have to have to take the job because I knew I needed to be take more of a CEO role here. Drew Anthony is our special teams coordinator. He spent 12-14 years at Buford and won about eight state titles. I don't think there's anybody spending more time on special teams than we are. One thing I saw right away when I came was that special teams play was really poor. We literally flipped a couple of games last year because of special teams. Matt Mays is our strength coach. Our strength numbers are off the chart compared to what they were. Then the rest of the staff, most of which were retained, they're all good football coaches. We're getting better every day."
3. What's been the biggest difference between coaching in metro Atlanta and at Camden County that you didn't anticipate? "The two biggest are the schedule and the finances, which are tied together. There's greater distance between us and other schools, so there's more travel. This school system has taken a beating financially because of having [only] three region games. We spent $20,000 to play West Forsyth [on Aug. 23], and there was no way around that. If you want to win that game, you have to invest the money to have them fresh to play. We drove up Thursday after school, stayed overnight, chartered buses, put them up in hotels, fed them. We got back at 4-5 in the morning. Our region is the one region that's under that power rating, and so we put games on our schedule trying to negate the advantage that Atlanta schools have in scheduling. [Because it has only four teams, Region 1-AAAAAAA is the only region in the highest classification whose fourth-place finisher does not get an automatic bid into the playoffs. To give his team the best chance of making the playoffs as a possible fourth-place team, Sphire attempts to schedule opponents that maximize his opportunity to earn points in the GHSA's rating system. Playing teams with good records increases the opportunity to earn more points, but also risks defeat and earning no points. Sphire argues that teams in larger regions have ideal, local opponents built into their region schedules.]
4. How do you see the region playing out this season? "Colquitt is Colquitt. I know they're going through the change [at head coach], but the program has all the administrative and community support and resources. I know the coach [Justin Rogers], and he's going to do a heck of a job. Troy Hobbs and Mo Dixon, two of my former assistants, are over there. They're still No. 1 until somebody proves them not to be. Lowndes has a really good team coming back in terms of talent and experience and size. They probably have the team that everybody's got to beat. Don't underestimate Tift. Ashley Anders does a good job. Their front seven on defense is better than anybody. They have struggled really offensively, but they have good players and will get better. We're pretty young just about everywhere."
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