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 Coahulla Creek coach Caleb Bagley, whose team broke a 27-game losing streak last week with a 35-7 victory over Murray County. Bagley became head coach of the Whitfield County school last season. It had won only six games in its first six seasons.
Caleb Bagley, Coahulla Creek coach
1. What was the importance of last week's victory the program, and how do you frame it to the team? Do you want the players to revel in that feeling of success, or do you attempt to temper it, by saying, "That's just one?" "It was a huge night for our program, school and community. We are so proud of our young men, especially our seniors who have poured their hearts into this program without much success. We knew last year when we came in that we had a huge task in front of us. We were never really competitive last year. This season, we have been knocking on the door. We have been 'in' every game into the third quarter, and two weeks ago against Southeast Whitfield, we lost in overtime, so we felt like we were closing in on knocking the door down. We obviously want our kids to enjoy the victory. They deserve it. But we have a 48-hour rule. Good or bad, we get right back to work on Monday. We hope they've gotten a taste of it now and are hungry to do it again. We have what we call an 'Us Week' this week. We don't have an opponent, but our challenge is to come in and improve us as much as possibly can. We are going back to our Camp Install and getting back to the basics on offense, defense and special teams."
2. What were the reasons you took the job, and did you know what you were getting into? "Being from the area and from the outside looking in, I thought it could be a good place, but there were some battles that would have to be won before that could happen. I was at North Murray High School and was very comfortable. We had just finished up the best season in the school's history that ended with a second-round loss to Peach County. I was working for a great guy, and my family and I were very happy. I applied without knowing a lot about what I was getting into. I didn't know what kind of shot I had. I was young, 30 at the time, and had never interviewed for a head coaching position. I think that ended up helping me during the process. I didn't know until I was I hired that it had over 50 applicants. I'm sure some avoided it because of the history of the program, but northwest Georgia is a great place to live and raise a family, so I think that probably led to more applicants than people initially thought there would be. It was also a chance to take a head coaching job at a place where I wouldn't have to uproot my family and move. My wife is a teacher and loves where she is, and my daughter had just started kindergarten. Both our families live in the area, so our kids get to be around their grandparents."
3. What has made it difficult for Coahulla Creek to succeed? "I think there are several things that have gone into it becoming a challenging job. There had been a lot of turnover in the administration. That has been solved, and our school is being led by an outstanding principal and athletic director [Tracy Mardis and Chris Woods]. There had also been issues with players leaving our feeder middle school and attending the other high school on the north end of Whitfield County when they entered ninth grade. We came in and established our middle school program as an extension of ours. They lift with us, run our base scheme on offense/defense and are around us year-round. We have great relationship with the kids there. We have a beautiful school, but we do not have a field house or facility that is solely used for football. Our players dress in the P.E. locker room and we operate out of two empty classrooms that serve as staff offices, equipment rooms and team meeting rooms. It's very crowded, but we make it work the best we can. I also think there hadn't been a true year-round program put into place. I have been blessed to be around some great coaches, and I've always made a conscious effort to pay attention to the way things were run and have never been afraid to ask questions. We have been able to implement a program that focuses on player development (athletically, academically and character), accountability, and family. Our kids know what we expect on a year-round basis, and they also know what they can expect from us as a coaching staff."
4. What are some of the ways that you've tried to address those challenges? "Building relationships with our middle school staff and players was the first priority. We involve them in everything we do. We are also actively pursuing ways that we may can get a field house. We have worked and made things as efficient as possible with our current setup, but we truly feel that is a huge hurdle we have to overcome from an operational standpoint. I also firmly believe having a facility that is ours would give our kids a huge sense of pride and a 'home' feeling that we are missing right now. Getting the kids to believe they can win has been a huge battle as well. The first step was preparing the kids to win. We had to institute a program into a place that really didn't have one and convince the kids that if you commit to doing this, success will eventually come. It's been great to see small victories start to happen this season, and then to see our kids experience success on the scoreboard Friday night was an awesome thing. It gives our kids some validation that what they have been doing has us going in the right direction."
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