Now coaching football, Perno admits losing UGA baseball job still stings
David Perno is in his 10th season as football coach for his alma mater Clarke Central.
Perno was the starting fullback on Clarke Central’s 1985 Class 4A championship team, which will be honored at Friday night’s game in Athens against Habersham Central.
Perno has led Clarke Central to four region titles as a coach, including one last season.
Perno also is widely known as Georgia’s baseball coach from 2002 to 2013. His teams made the College World Series in 2004, 2006 and 2008. He was a player on Georgia’s 1990 College World Series championship team.
In this four-question interview, Perno talks about the 1985 championship team and its beloved coach, Billy Henderson, as well as his fond days as Georgia’s baseball coach and what led him back to Clarke Central.
How does that 1985 team and the experience of winning that championship compare in your heart to other accomplishments as a player and coach?
“It’s better. I was part of a national championship as a baseball player at Georgia. But I grew up with these kids at Clarke Central. I’d been playing with that group since I was 11 and 12 years old. I remember when we were in the eighth grade, in spring practice, which lasted a month back then, we lined up and played the ninth- and 10th-graders, and we whipped them. (Gov. Brian Kemp) and Dan Dooley (Vince Dooley’s oldest son) coached us in the spring. They were seniors. And one day in practice, we just whipped the JV team. That’s when we knew we were going to be special. In 1985, we had 11 seniors in that huddle, and probably nine of us were from that team in the eighth grade. We just had so much love and respect for our teammates. We ran as a pack, but not a clique. We had a closeness that’s hard to find today.”
Note: Kemp and Dooley became roommates at the University of Georgia. Vince Dooley’s youngest son, Derek, was a senior all-state tight end on the 1985 team. “Derek stood next to me in the huddle,” Perno said. ”He used to pop my shoulder back in. It would pop out all the time. He was hardcore, but he was great. We were really close.”
The 1985 team had a GACA Hall of Fame coach, Billy Henderson, who won state titles for Clarke Central in 1977 and 1979 as well. What was his secret to success?
“His coaching style had a little bit of Jimmy Johnson in it. He didn’t have the flamboyance or arrogance, but he was a tremendous motivator and communicator. He treated everybody differently in a sense. He knew which guys he could jump. He knew which guys he had to stay positive with. He knew his clientele. He had a vision, and his motivation tactics were off the charts. He came and watched us in Little League when I was 12, and he knew who I was. I’m a little punk seventh-grader rolling up here at Clarke Central, and the head coach knows who you are? That went a long way for me. So, when I grew up, that’s all I wanted to do, win a state championship for Clarke Central. Kids today, they’re so past high school by the ninth grade. They’re all about social media and recruiting and colleges contacting them. It’s a difficult time right now. Kids today have so many distractions they have to deal with. That was something we never worried about.”
It’s a story you’ve told, but still an interesting one. How did a longtime college baseball coach wind up a high school football coach?
“What happened at Georgia, when they released me, it completely blindsided me. I’m a Georgia diehard, I grew up in this community, and that was tough. We had two kids paralyzed in 2010 and 2011 (Chance Veazey in a scooter accident and Johnathan Taylor from a collision with a teammate in the outfield). I don’t think people understood the effects that had emotionally on our program, and it was a reason we struggled. People forget, from 2001 to 2009, hands down, it was the most successful run in Georgia baseball history. Nothing has ever been close to it. I still wanted to coach baseball, but no one would give me a shot. I was doing TV for the SEC Network and ESPNU for college baseball, but I missed coaching. I missed the competitiveness and camaraderie of the players and giving a vision to your team and putting together a plan. Then this deal came open. It was in the fall of 2015, and the AD (Jon Ward) came across my wife (Melaney) and said something about needing a football coach. My wife said, ‘I’ve got one at home.’ And it started rolling from there. My first call was to Coach Henderson, and he said, ‘Yes, you need to take it and try.’ It was a chance to get back to a place that had done so much for me and had such a positive impact in my time.”
Did you expect to be here for 10 seasons?
“Absolutely not. I would still like to finish my career coaching college baseball. But if that opportunity never arises, I’m completely content here. Our leadership is great. Our athletic director is wonderful to work for. He’s gotten our facilities better than we’ve ever had them. We’ve put up a digital scoreboard. (Billy Henderson Stadium) is a great setting for high school football. I’ve been able to bring in a couple of coaches we needed. We’ve just been dealt a lot of adversity this year. (The team’s record is 2-4. Perno has never had a losing regular season.) We have three offensive linemen out for the season. Our defensive lineman Anthony Lonon Jr. (committed to Georgia) is out for the season. We’ve gone through four quarterbacks and finally settled on a sophomore, Hudson Welter. Hopefully we can keep our momentum from last week’s win against Apalachee because Habersham Central is a really good football team. But if we play well and can pull the upset, we can still get a home game for the playoffs.”
About the Author
Todd Holcomb has been a contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1985. He is currently co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily.
