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 Prince Avenue Christian head coach Greg Vandagriff, whose team advanced to the semifinals with a 48-20 victory over North Cobb Christian and will play arch-rival Athens Academy on Friday in a rematch of a game won by Athens Academy 31-27 on Sept. 28.
Greg Vandagriff, Prince Avenue Christian head coach
1. Describe the Athens Academy-Prince Avenue rivalry. What's it like, and what some other rivalries that you've coached in and how do they compare? "The Athens Academy-Prince Avenue rivalry is like most other 'backyard brawl' types that you hear about. I believe it is one of those rivalries that most of the people in the 'private world' in Athens know about and enjoy following. I have only been here for three football seasons, and I believe we both have a healthy respect for each other. We beat them my first year to win the region title, and they have beaten us the last two to secure the region title for themselves. I will share one interesting story that did catch me off guard my first year at Prince. We were playing them in basketball, and you know how the students can chant things at the opposing team, players or fans. Well, this story is like that. The game was close and the lead was going back and forth, and their school called a timeout. During the silences of the timeout, ACAD's student section started chanting 'Charles Darwin,' I guess making fun of the fact that our school is a Christian school. Our kids promptly returned their challenge with a chant of our own, yelling 'Jesus Christ' back towards them. I had to say that was a first for me, in any rivalry experience. What makes this rivalry the most like public-school rivalries is that we live so close together in the Athens area and many families know each other. It would be a lot like Parkview-Brookwood or Lowndes-Valdosta but on a much smaller level. At Woodward Academy, we had a healthy rivalry with St. Pius and Marist, but it was not the same since Atlanta is so spread out. The sense of community that the 'neighborhood' rivalry provides in this one makes it more like those Auburn-Alabama rivalries where both teams are good and the winning is rather split."
2. Do rematches favor one team or the other? Is the team that lost the first one pretty eager for a second chance? "Rematches are challenging, in my opinion. We have played two teams twice this season [not counting Athens Academy], and I can maybe remember playing another team only once or twice in my 28-year career, before now. We played Riverside Military in the region crossover, for the second time, and caught Wesleyan in the second round after playing them earlier in the season in non-region play. Now, we are about to catch our third opponent for a second time. I do believe the rematch game favors the team that lost as they are playing with a chip on their shoulder. If you do not believe me, go watch the Creed II movie. We saw it as a team last week."
3. You took over a program that had been going strong for several seasons under two outstanding coaches, Jeff Herron and Mark Farriba. What are the special challenges to taking a job where the expectations are so high? "Any time you take over a program that has been successful for five to seven years prior, you naturally feel a little pressure to win. Most of my career, I have gone to programs that have been struggling and assisted or became the head coach to help turn those programs around. The nice part here was they already knew how to win and work. I did not have to teach them two of the hardest things - work ethic and expectation. However, the difference was that I was not a wing-T guy nor a 3-4 guy. So, I changed the entire offense and defense, and to say that I was a little nervous would be an understatement. The start of the 2016 season, I was very skeptical about our chances. We did not have spring football and were starting the season with the No. 6-ranked team in the state, Aquinas, and completely new schemes. My part was to keep doing what we were doing well - working hard in the weight room and winning - and install the schemes that I knew how to run [4-2-5 and the spread].''
4. Your son, Brock, is the starting quarterback this season. What's it like to coach your son, and how do you manage it? "It has been an absolute thrill to get to coach my son. Luckily, I have coached him through many of his youth football and baseball days, from the days of playing Home Plate travel baseball to being an assistant on his Sharpsburg Stallions football team in pound ball. It was through those days that we learned to communicate with each other. I had to learn that he was my son and not just another player, and he had to learn that I was his coach on the field, not only his dad. I remember coming home one night after a game or practice that did not go the way he or I wanted it to, and in the car we were both mad. I was miserable because I wanted to talk to my son, and he was miserable because he did not want to get chewed out by his dad. I turned and looked at him and said I would never coach him again if we could not leave it on the field and be father and son again when we got in the car. My part was to talk about the event when he was ready, and his part was to understand that I loved him regardless of his performance and that I did not love him because he could hit home runs or throw TD passes, but that I loved him unconditionally. I wanted to show him the love I had received from his mother and my heavenly father. If we could come to an understanding about that, then we would be able to continue our coach-son relationship, but if not our relationship as father and son was more important than any sporting event in the world. He turned and said he loved me, and we have never looked back. I have been very blessed to be able to be on the sideline while he plays and look forward to the journey that lays before us all."
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily, a free e-mail newsletter. To join the mailing list, click here.
About the Author
