Today’s interviewee is Chip Walker, in his fourth season as Newnan’s coach. Walker began his head-coaching career at Sandy Creek, where he won state titles in 2009, 2010 and 2012. Walker talked about Newnan’s 2020 prospects, the recent news that his Cougars would be in quarantine for a week and his 2012 Sandy Creek team, the newly crowned Team of the Decade computer-tournament champion of Class 4A.
Chip Walker, Newnan head coach
1. Your team is in temporary quarantine. What happened? “We just had one player who tested positive [for coronavirus]. I think he got it at home, so we’re just being overly cautious. This was our first time dealing with it all summer. We’re just making sure all is good. Fortunately, our young man is doing great, and everybody in his house is doing well, and that’s the most important thing. We’ll be back at the end of the week, hopefully Friday.”
2. How will you and your staff handle the time off? Will it set you back? “We’re a virtual school now anyway, so we get to see our kids virtually every morning during weight lifting. We’re able to keep in touch that way to make sure they’re going good and doing whatever workout we can get them to do at home. Our kids are handling it well. We have a mature group. Honestly, they’ve handled everything this summer, so I have no doubts we’ll be ready to go. The toughest thing is just missing out on seeing the kids every day. I’m like most coaches, and our staff is the same way. We’re in this business to help young men, and not getting to be around them every day is the thing that hurts you most.”
3. How does your team look this season? “We’re really excited about this year. It’s our fourth year, so we’re the only thing they know. It’s the first group that’s been here entirely since we’ve been here as a staff. They know our expectations and work ethic. I can remember standing in one of the middle school lobbies when I first met with those guys. To see them then to now become young men, it’s exciting. We just want to see them on Friday night to let them show everybody how far they’ve come in that time.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s the best football team since we’ve been here. We battled a lot of injuries last year. We’ve got 15 guys on offense that have started football games before. Some of that is because of those injuries, but to have 15 back on offense and seven or eight on defense who’ve started games means there’s a lot of football played by these guys. [Walker went on to praise his senior quarterback, Michael Maginnis, a three-year started committed to Samford. “He’s got the ‘it.’ I could tell you story after story. When he was a freshman doing a 7-on-7 deal, my son Bryant was the quarterback at the time, and he was out of town, and Michael stepped in and was throwing dimes everywhere. Kids even then gravitated toward him. He’s just got ‘it.’”]
4. So, on a lighter note, Sandy Creek’s 2012 team, your third state-championship team, won our Team of the Decade championship in Class 4A with a 26-19 victory over Trevor Lawrence’s 2016 Cartersville team. Tell us about that 2012 Sandy Creek team? “It was just a team that dominated on Friday night. We felt like it was the best team in the state in 2012. Our staff followed that [the computer tournament]. Frank Barden, who was head coach at Cartersville all those years [1996-2013], both of his sons [T.J. and Brooks] are on my staff, so when it came down to a Sandy Creek-Cartersville deal in the end, we had some good laughs. They had the biggest laugh because Sandy Creek has never beaten Cartersville. That’s the only time we’ve beaten them – in the computer tournament. Coach Barden played for my dad [Rodney Walker, Cartersville’s coach in 1985]. I’ve known them my whole life. But that Sandy Creek team had everything. It was great defensively and explosive on offense. I think we scored 670 points in 15 games, which at the time was one of the 10-15 most in state history. We dominated the state championship game.” [Sandy Creek defeated Ridgeland 45-10 for the 2012 Class 4A championship and did not have a game all season decided by fewer than 21 points.]
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