How Prince Avenue rebounded after ‘bumps and bruises’ in Richt’s first year
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Prince Avenue head coach Jon Richt, who is in his second year as head coach of the Wolverines after serving as the offensive coordinator for several years. In Richt’s first season, Prince Avenue went 8-4, the fewest wins for Prince Avenue in a season since 2014. Now, Richt’s squad is 7-0, ranked No. 1 by AJC Varsity and projected by the Maxwell Ratings to earn the No. 2 seed in Class 4A-2A Private. Maxwell also has Prince Avenue projected to make the state finals.
Last week, Prince Avenue defeated then-undefeated Class 2A No. 6 Commerce.
1. Where do you see the biggest differences for you personally as a coach from year one to year two as head coach?
“You learn how to manage the off-the-field stuff. Your first year, you’re kind of flying by the seat of your pants. You think you have an idea, and of course, things happen. You’re like, ‘Dude, I’ve never even thought about this’. So now, you get caught off guard less. Your staff learns how to help you more. Just making sure you have good people around you, and the kids understand what the process is and what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I think overall, I’ve been able to do a better job of that this year, and it’s kind of paid off on the field.”
2. What’s been the biggest on-field difference for the Wolverines this year compared with 2025?
“This year I think we’ve stayed healthy, which is a big part of what we did all season in the training program and the weight room and the running, lifting, everything that we were doing to prepare for the season. And I think that’s paid off this year. I think last year we took some bumps and bruises. A lot of those kids were playing football for the first time in some positions last year. I think we have a lot of veteran leadership now. Kids who have played a lot of football, and so now they feel comfortable in just about every situation. They’ve been in games where they’ve been down. They’ve been in games where they’ve been up, and they’ve been in games where it’s a challenge play by play to execute and do things the right way. And so, you’ve got those older guys living the way, and the younger guys are doing a great job stepping in and filling some gaps that we had last year. And so now you just have a lot of a lot of kids pushing in the same direction, working on the same thing, being united, and it’s been fun to watch.”
3. Prince has managed to win many of your games fairly comfortably. How do you and your staff keep the players engaged week in and week out to avoid an upset any given Friday night?
“We always talk about football is a game in which you work way too hard throughout the whole offseason to take your foot off the gas at any point in time during the season. So we’re always looking towards that next game, the next opportunity to get on the field. We really try to respect every time we walk on the field as the opportunity presents itself to go out there and compete and execute, and we talk about it always. You’re never good enough to win a state championship at the beginning of the year. The teams that do (win a state championship) are the ones that continue to get better, find ways to continue to be creative to put people, put the opponents in situations in which they feel uncomfortable, and then find ways to compete when you’re uncomfortable. Guys have done a great job of keeping their head down, working hard, and continuing to push forward every week, and finding ways to not just win, but to find ways to get better and execute more efficiently every week.”
4. You mentioned playing for a state championship. What’s it going to take over the next month or so to make sure that you’re in the position to get to Atlanta in December?
“Well, I mean, I think we’ve got a really good football team. We’re talented enough to make it there, but it’s going to come down to whether or not we execute — not just offensively or defensively, but even just the minor penalties, the major penalties that come into play, the one mishap of busting a coverage or busting a blocking assignment or whatever it is — (clean) those things up. I want to make sure we’re playing sound, fundamental, unity-driven football to where we’re complementing each other in all three phases. It’s one of those deals where you just have to go out and be more physical than the man in front of you. So for us, we need to continue to learn how to execute more, more efficiently, and then go be physical every game. There shouldn’t be a doubt when people turn on our tape that not only are we physical, but every single one of our kids are straining with effort every play, trying to be in position, trying to play the right way, and then trying to be physical at the point of attack.”