GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Steve Davenport, Woodland-Stockbridge
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "William 'Buck' Godfrey. I played on his first Southwest DeKalb team, and he gave me my first coaching job in '90. That year we lost to Valdosta in the state finals, but the experience whetted my appetite to be a football coach. He has through the years continued to be a coaching mentor in my life. I served as his offensive coordinator in '95 when we won the state championship."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "In '03 while I was head coach at Decatur High School, we played Buford in the Georgia Dome. They were as well-coached a team as I have ever prepared to play, and talented. Darius Walker broke Herschel Walker's touchdown record in that game, but they had a lot of other talented players. The Parkview team in 2001 was a very close second."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "As an assistant at SWD in '95, we suffered our only loss of that season against Douglass, led by Jamal Lewis. He went for over 200 that night. He was big, explosive and fast. The best high school football player that I have ever seen is still Quincy Carter, though. He had all the tools."
4. If you were Gary Phillips, the new head of the GHSA, what would be the first rule that you would try to change? "Put the semifinals back in the Dome. Reaching the Dome was a shining moment in my coaching career [Decatur in 2003], and I recall how it brought that community together."
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