Rance Morgan says Clinch County football job has ‘always been a dream’
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is first-year Clinch County coach Rance Morgan, whose team will play at home Friday against Fitzgerald. Morgan is a Clinch County alumnus and former assistant who left football to become an assistant principal in 2020. Now back on the sidelines, he is succeeding coach Jim Dickerson, who won five state titles in his 17 seasons over two Clinch County stints.
1. Was becoming a head football coach a goal of yours? How did you go from assistant coach to assistant principal to now football head coach?
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be a head coach and the head coach of Clinch County. I’m from here, born and raised, and played all my school ball here. I was fortunate to be on a state championship team as a player (2002) and an assistant coach (2010, 2017, 2018). In 2019, our principal had some health issues, and I stepped in to help and got into the world of administration. Then Coach Dickerson kept asking me (last season) if I wanted to rejoin the staff. I started putting in some feelers to see what the higher-ups would think if I was an assistant (while still assistant principal). Then Coach Dickerson decided to retire. So I was sitting in the office with my superintendent and principal and AD and I was asked whether I could balance being an assistant principal and head coach. I said let me think on it for a night, but within a couple of hours, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I’m happy to be back at it.”
2. What advice has Coach Dickerson given you?
“When he heard I took the job, he said you’ve got to get Coach Peterson back. (Winston Peterson is a former long-time defensive coordinator and currently the athletic director.) We’ve worked together closely. I didn’t take me much convincing to get him back on staff. He’s the d-line, special teams and associate head coach. Coach Dickerson said you know all these guys (the 2025 staff). If you get them in the right spots, they’ll function well for you.”
3. Clinch is historically a running team, but you’ve got an all-state Division I wide receiver, Kamarion Johnson, who is committed to Florida. What will your offense look like this season?
“We’ll be more spread this year. We do have single wing in the package. We’ll bounce Kamarion all over the place and use him as a gadget guy and get him the ball as much as we can. We’d like to get him the ball 12 times a game and hope two of them go for a touchdown. Our quarterback (Traviian Miller) is a weapon, too. Both those guys can put us in a good situation.”
4. Clinch County has had five coaches since 1974, all Clinch County graduates. Why do you think Clinch County has relied so much on its native sons to coach the football team?
“Knowing the community and having relationships and being connected to the history of the program helps the transition here. It’s a unique place in the middle of nowhere, but somehow we continue to produce some good talent. That’s part of the community. The dads and the uncle ingrain that into the players, what Clinch County football is all about. When you put on that jersey, you’re not just playing for the current team but for all the tradition. You don’t want to be the team that lets that fall off.”