GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Bradley Warren, Dade County
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "I do not know if there is just one influential person in my career. When I was a younger coach in the 1990s, I began working with Steve Patterson, a very successful coach under Dan Pitts from Mary Persons High School. Steve taught me how to be a good high school football coach in so many phases of the game. We still talk a great deal today. I bounce ideas off of him all the time. Secondly, when I moved to Gwinnett County to coach the Central Gwinnett football team, I met coach Dave Hunter of Brookwood High School. Coach Hunter taught me a great deal about managing a team, raising funds and the workings of the business end of running a successful program. He still works with me today in many aspects of my career."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "Brookwood linebacker Rennie Curran. I joke sometimes and say, 'Rennie beat me out of two region championships.' He was a special player that I enjoyed seeing play beyond the high school level."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "Wow, the best team that I ever faced was probably the 2005 Lowndes team while I was at Central Gwinnett. We faced them in the quarterfinals, and they beat us pretty bad on their way the state championship. Well, they beat us bad enough that we scheduled a rematch for the following season immediately after the ballgame. We won that one 11-7."
4. If you were Gary Phillips, the new head of the GHSA, what would be the first rule that you would try to change? "Well first off, I have enjoyed reading these opinions each day about suggested changes in the GHSA. In my opinion, Gary will be the executive director that has to address the disparity within the public-private school debate. The ball is rolling, and in my opinion it will be just a matter of time before this issue will be addressed at some level or another. I do not envy this task."
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