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 Southwest DeKalb coach Damien Wimes, whose team upset fifth-ranked Stephenson 21-14 in overtime last week. Southwest DeKalb had lost seven consecutive games to Stephenson dating to 2005 and had lost 20 straight games to ranked teams in the same classification or higher dating to 2008.
Damien Wimes, Southwest DeKalb head coach
1. What's the significance of the Stephenson win for your program? "These kids had some success last year, but this was a chance to show them they can compete against anybody. There's no simple formula for winning. It's hard work and teamwork. We've stressed that. Stephenson is a great team. This game showed us that anybody can step up on any particular night and help us win, and it helped our community and kids see what we're capable of achieving."
2. In your first season as head coach in 2017, Southwest DeKalb won a playoff game for the first time since 2009, and now you've beaten Stephenson for the first time since 2005. What have been the biggest changes that have brought the team to where it is now? "We have a great group of coaches that are knowledgeable and know what kind of kids we have. We're big on accountability with kids. We've started getting kids back into two sports. Last year, Justin Tomlin [all-state quarterback] was the only football player running track. We're getting them back to working and competing on a year-round basis and not just showing up to play football. We're re-engaging with the community and do a lot of community-based programs such as working with literacy. We want to rekindle all that. That's the blueprint that we want to follow." [Wimes has eight new coaches on the staff this season, four that are Southwest DeKalb alumni like himself.]
3. Southwest DeKalb was the premier football program in DeKalb County for most of the 1980s and 1990s and continued to win until coach Buck Godfrey's final season in 2012. Does Southwest DeKalb have the same potential as it did in the glory days, and what challenges exist now that didn't in those days? "The last team that I had coached here [as an assistant] was 2009-10, and that was one of the best Southwest DeKalb teams ever. We were No. 1 in preseason. We had Ken Malcome and T.J. Stripling, who went to Georgia, and Sharrod Golightly, who was an All-SEC safety, and Jonathon Mincy, who is with the Bears now. There's still talent here. The challenge is that kids have so many other options, but the kids are definitely in the area. There are things we still have to build up. We saw that when we played Rome last year. We've had to re-engage the community and the parks a little. But in a couple of years, if we're blessed, we can be a state-level program again. We've already got some great young players. We've got a ninth-grader [WR/DB Janiran Bonner] who might become one of the best players to come through the program. He starts right now. You just have to stay engaged around here and sell your program."
4. Southwest DeKalb last won a region title in 2009. The computer Maxwell Ratings now have the Panthers as the team to beat at 4.47 ratings points higher than defending champion Arabia Mountain. How do you see 5-AAAAA playing out? "We were close last year. Our quarterback got hurt game about two games before we played Arabia Mountain. We've got a pretty good shot. Arabia Mountain is still pretty good. Miller Grove is pretty good. Lithonia and Columbia are going to be challenges. But I believe we've got a pretty good shot if we continue to gel and work for it."
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily, a free e-mail newsletter. To join the mailing list, click here.
About the Author
