Today’s interviewee is Glascock County coach Chris Kelley, whose alma mater is in the playoffs for the first time and will play at Aquinas on Friday in Class A Division II. Glascock is the second-smallest GHSA school, behind Central of Talbotton, that fields a football team. Kelley was a Glascock County player in the early 1990s when the program restarted and lost a state-record 82 straight games before breaking through in 1999, when Kelley returned as an assistant coach. He became head coach in 2002. Glascock has not had a winless season since 2005 and is 4-6 this season.
1. What do the playoffs mean to your school and to you personally? “The program was started in the ‘70s and only played a few years, and then the program came back on the varsity level in 1990. Being one of the smallest schools in the state, it has been tough sledding to win. We have mainly played a non-region schedule for most years. We have had some teams that have had more success than others, but we knew this team could do it if we stayed healthy, and we finally made it. The community is so excited after all these years. We finally made the playoffs when most people didn’t think it could be done. The emotion will be that after all these years when we wanted to be like everyone else and get a shot to get in will all come full circle for me. There has been a lot of frustrating Friday nights as both a player and coach, but our little school has never quit, and that is what I’m most proud of from our community.”
2. What are the challenges to winning at Glascock? “The biggest hurdle is always the numbers game. With only 170 kids in high school, it makes it very difficult to have depth, size or speed. In the 1990s, we were lucky to have 15 players, and it just took a long time to get the numbers up to even compete. At Glascock there is no reload. It is always building.” [As a player in 1993, Kelley’s senior season, he was the quarterback. In the final game of the season, Glascock played at Lincoln County, the eventual Class A champion. Only 12 players made the trip. Lincoln County won 72-0.]
3. You’ve coached at Glascock since 2002. What has kept you there in this position for so long? “I started coaching here in 1999 under John Bowen. John did a lot to keep this program from folding. I helped him for three years and took over in 2002. I grew up here and played here and always wanted it to be better for the kids than it was for me. I feel like we have done that. Two of my assistants, Brent Lamb and Grant Hadden, played for me, and it just means more to you when you have played at Glascock. As far as why I have stayed here when I have had chances to leave, this is home. Everyone wants to win, but I feel like this is where I was meant to be. I have coached boys and girls in many sports, and I feel like I’ve been able to give back to my hometown that I love so much.”
4. What would you want people to know about the current team? What will we see on Friday night? “You will see an old-fashioned offense in the wing-T most of the time that the late Luther Welsh taught me. Coach Welsh [a 338-game winner in Georgia] helped me when he didn’t have to, and I owe so much to him for it. That is why I have always tried to help anyone that asks because he spent countless hours with me in Thomson. Our boys embrace the offense and don’t mind getting dirty when we live in a spread offense world. Most teams are more athletic than us, and we preach we have to be more fundamental and disciplined. I feel like our team is a close-knit group that plays for each other.”
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