New Walton football coach Mo Dixon says don’t expect an overhaul of the team’s offensive or defensive schemes this season. Remember that Dixon comes from Byrnes, a South Carolina powerhouse that passed almost every down last year. Walton's trademark is power-I football.
But what’s more likely to change immediately is the team’s practices. Before going to Byrnes, Dixon coached under North Gwinnett’s Bob Sphire. With Dixon’s help, Byrnes adopted a similar, high-energy, regimented practice style.
‘’At North, most people who came by to talk to us, it was about the way we practiced,’’ Dixon said. “We got a lot of reps, short spurts, one-on-ones, a lot of competition. We taught them how to have an enemy in each other four times a week. It benefited our kids. They learned how to compete and be aggressive.’’
Dixon, announced as Walton’s coach on Tuesday, was to meet with players, coaches and boosters on Wednesday. Dixon, talking by cell phone as he was driving from South Carolina, said he would meet on Thursday with his predecessor, Rocky Hidalgo, who left to become head coach at Glynn Academy in Brunswick.
Also leaving Walton’s staff was long-time offensive coordinator Tripp Allen, who took a similar job at Carrollton under previous Walton coach Ed Dudley.
Dixon said it won’t be hard to find a couple of assistants to fill out the staff. He said he’s been inundated with calls from well-wishers, but also a few wanting to know about staff openings at one of the top programs in Georgia.
‘’Once it broke yesterday morning, I’m not exaggerating, I’ve had 200 messages and texts from about 2 o’clock on,’’ Dixon said. “I don’t know much about iPhones, but it’s blown up two or three times and I’ve had to re-boot it. That’s because I’m an old man and met a lot of people.’’
Walton reached the Class AAAAAA final in 2011 and was 6-5 last season. It is a program known for its power running game, often with a single feature back. In 2013, Byrnes had a quarterback that came within three touchdown passes of breaking a national record. At North Gwinnett, Sphire was on the leading edge of the spread offense in Georgia.
Dixon said not to expect the spread offense at Walton, not soon, anyway.
‘’It’s a little late for that,’’ Dixon said. “Not that I would make wholesale changes. But I’m going to go in there and keep my eyes open and get familiar with the program. It’s not broke. I’m going to talk with the guys on the staff and see what we can do. Regardless of what we do, I want to be up-tempo. That doesn’t mean a spread. Some people get that confused. I just mean we want to get a lot of snaps.’’
As for defense, his specialty, Dixon favors a 3-5 alignment, which essentially is trading a safety for a linebacker in Walton's 3-4 scheme under Hidalgo.
This won’t be Dixon’s first head coaching job. He led the programs at Knox County Central and Hazard in his native Kentucky. He also was head coach at Broward North in Florida.
Dixon said he wasn’t necessarily looking to be a head coach again, only if the right situation opened.
‘’If you’ve got an opportunity to go to a place that is a proven winner and a class act, that’s a pretty good place to start,’’ Dixon said. “There’s an aura around the school. Academically, it’s second to nobody in the state. It’s not a program that needs to be built back up. I just needs another guy.’’
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