Chadwick not a fan of heat rules or Beatles, but extols brothers, Dan Fogelberg
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Alan Chadwick, who is entering his 42nd season as Marist’s coach. Only Luther Welsh (43 seasons) and Larry Campbell (42) have coached in more season-opening GHSA games all time than Chadwick. Chadwick’s team is playing at Woodward Academy on Friday night.
As the most interviewed active coach in the state, it’s hard to think of fresh questions for you. What would you suggest we open with?
“You could ask me about the heat. Man, it’s killing us. Coaching has become more frustrating with all the restrictions and limitations we have. We have yet to get on a regular schedule where everything flows from day to day. With adjusting schedule times and adjusting equipment use on the field, going in the mornings, waiting until later in the evening to go — it’s just been a real headache.
“We have all these restrictions for practice, but we don’t have any of those for playing a game. The only thing we do if we’re playing a game and the heat is too high, they (game officials) give you an extra water break.
“So these kids aren’t getting adjusted or adapted to the heat practicing in it. I understand they have to have some restrictions, but it becomes more of a safety issue not being able to go full speed. As a coach, you feel you’re not preparing your team as well as you should. You can’t teach the fundamentals of blocking because we don’t have full equipment on. I have more concerns for a catastrophic injury from tackling and blocking than I have from heatstroke. I think there’s a better way of doing it.”
Note: The GHSA in 2012 became one of the first state associations to implement comprehensive heat guidelines for football practices. The rules, which have evolved, dictate the duration of football practices and the level of equipment to be worn based on Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a metric that takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover.
How does this year’s Marist team look?
“We’re young. We’re extremely young on defense and inexperienced, and so we may have to go through some growing pains this year. We don’t have what I call top-level talent that we’ve had in recent years — eight or nine guys going off to play college football. We feel we’ve got some speed on offense. If our offensive line comes around, we can be pretty good there. Our kicking game should be extremely good with Tyler Baradel (a Georgia Power 100 placekicker, committed to Wake Forest, who also will punt this season). There’s even some athleticism in the secondary. The strength of our team is wide receivers and running backs. But our biggest concern is physicality.”
Note: Marist was 12-2 and reached the Class 4A semifinals last season. Marist has reached the quarterfinals or better each of the past nine seasons and won Class 4A in 2020.
Do you have a most memorable opening game in your coaching career?
“Yeah, but it’s not a positive memory, but that’s the one that sticks out the most. Actually, I was not the head coach. We played over at Cedartown, and I was an assistant (in 1982). That was a long, bad night and a bad trip. (Cedartown won 62-13). As far as a head coach, I’ll have to put in a dig to my wife (Lisa). It was my first season (in 1985), and we opened up at Chamblee and beat them. That was her alma mater.”
Note: Chadwick is 28-13 (.683) in opening games and 323-42 (.885) in other regular-season games. He is 457-83 overall, 20 wins from Campbell’s Georgia record.
Your brother, Dennis, was selected for induction into the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame this year. He played at Tennessee, as did another older brother, Walter, and you were a pretty fair quarterback at Decatur. What can you tell us about Dennis and your brothers?
“I owe so much to my brothers, showing me the way in terms of their work ethic, their devotion and commitment to play the game and improving themselves. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without their presence in my life — Dennis in particular because we were so close in age, one year apart, and not getting a chance to play (in high school) because I was behind him. (Alan Chadwick became Decatur’s quarterback as a senior in 1968, succeeding Dennis Chadwick.) I was able to learn a lot from that. He was so far superior to me overall athletically because he was bigger, thicker, strong and faster and played multiple positions, where I was a pretty good handoff quarterback. (Alan Chadwick set passing records at East Tennessee State and was drafted by the Chicago Bears.)
“Then, Walter was a really good running back — just a slasher, hard to bring down and very determined. My other brother, Don, was the oldest. He didn’t play football until the 11th grade. I’d say he was the best of all us in terms of his life.”
Note: Walter, Dennis and Alan Chadwick were first-team all-state players in the 1960s, and the nostalgia inspired us to ask: Who was your favorite Beatle? Said Chadwick, “I wasn’t a big Beatle fan, to be honest with you. But my senior year, our class theme song was ‘Hey Jude.’ Back then in the ‘60s, my favorite might’ve been Johnny Rivers, somebody like that. Going into college, that’s when Dan Fogelberg came around. We’re the exact age, three months apart. He’s been my guy ever since my junior or senior year in college. I was not a hard rocker. I was more into the romance stuff and liked the words and the lyrics and the music that went along with that.”