GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Tab Griffin, Pope
1. What is the real difference-maker in winning and losing in Georgia high school football? "No. 1 in winning and losing is the talent you have. A great coach can struggle if the talent is not there. No. 2 on that list is getting the kids to buy into what you and your staff are trying to accomplish. If you get kids to 100-percent buy in, then you will win a lot more football games than you lose."
2. Which player that you've coached is memorable mostly for his character or inspiration? "I have two players that are the most memorable for me. First is T.J. Yates. Great QB in high school, college and now the pros, but more important than his talent was his ability to get players to follow him based on his character. The second player is Zack Greenwell. He played QB for me at Mount Paran Christian School. He was a decently talented kid that played way above his talent level. He had a leadership skill that I have never seen before or since. Our team rallied around him every year, and he led us to the playoffs for two straight years with average talent."
3. What is the best atmosphere for a high school game that you've experienced away from home? "The best game experience I saw was at Bremen. When I as at Mount Paran, we played them and they had the 'all-decades teams' for the past 50 years. It was crazy packed, and when we pulled up in the bus they had RVs and tailgaters everywhere. It was as if we pulled into a college game. After the game was over, they had a fireworks show that I have not seen anywhere."
4. As a player or coach at any level, which game do you wish you could play again? "The one game I always think about was my junior year [1993] at Sequoyah. We are down by less than a TD with under a minute to play, and I had a deep ball thrown my way. I took my eye off the ball for a split second to make sure I stayed in bounds, and I dropped the game winning TD. I felt like I let the whole team and school down by that one play."
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