Today’s interviewee is North Oconee coach Tyler Aurandt, whose team defeated then-No. 1 Jefferson 11-6 last week to win the Region 8-4A championship. North Oconee is 7-3 after a 1-3 start against a challenging schedule. Aurandt took the North Oconee job in 2017. He previously had been the offensive coordinator at Parkview and Grayson and a wide receivers coach at alma mater Valdosta State.
Tyler Aurandt, North Oconee head coach
1. What did your team do well Friday night that allowed you to win? In particular, what did you do defensively to hold down a team that was averaging nearly 40 points per game? “Friday night was a special night for our program, school and community. The outcome was a result of our players playing together and for one another. You don’t line up against one of the best teams in the state and win with one or two players. It took every coach and player in our program to own their role and responsibility and to execute those roles to the best of their ability. Defensively, our players played with great effort and focus. Our defensive staff did a great job of preparing our players, and our players went out and executed with relentless effort. They played together, as a group, with one thing in mind – their teammates.”
2. You started 1-3. Talk about the progress of the team over the season. Do you feel like you had a good team from the start, and that it was disguised by a tough schedule, or did something click Friday night where you put it together? “From the beginning, we felt like this team had the opportunity to be special. We have great leaders in our senior class. Our seniors have never really worried about the outcome. They have just tried to come in and work day after day and earn the opportunity to go out on Friday and play good football. We talked all offseason about our non-region schedule and the adversity that was going to come with playing strong competition to start the season. [North Oconee lost to Oconee County, Benedictine and Cambridge, all current top-10 teams.] They never flinched. They kept their heads down and continued to work even when the results were not in our favor. We had to get some of the pieces in the right place and get guys healthy. We started the season with some key injuries, and once we got healthy that allowed us to start to gel as a team. I think you are starting to see the fruits of their labor now late in the season. This is the time of year you want to see your team start to peak. I don’t know where our road is going to lead from here, but I feel like our kids are really starting to play their best football together.”
3. When you took the job in 2017, North Oconee had just gone 0-10. Your first team went 1-9. What is the most important thing that you and your staff did to make the Titans a winner again? And how did you do it? “From the time we got to campus in January of 2017 we had a vision of building this program into one that would have the opportunity to win championships. We felt and still feel very strongly that the only way you give yourself the opportunity to do that is to build the right type of people. We have spent a lot of time over the last five years trying to build players with the right character, who have the ability to overcome adversity with toughness and great maturity. This is what has given us the opportunity to change the trajectory of our program and put ourselves in a position of success. We spend as much time with our character/leadership development as we do with anything else in our program. On top of that, it can’t just be something we talk about. We challenge them every day to put those conversations into action and be intentional with the choices they make and the way they live their lives. This is what has ultimately given us the opportunity to turn the program around and into a team that we feel like is built for long-term success.”
4. Oconee County has four top-10 teams, two public, two private, all of which now have won at least one region title in your five seasons at North Oconee. In many places in the state, one school is good at the expense of another in the area. And Oconee County vs. North Oconee is probably the most friendly rivalry of any two good schools so close together [three miles] on the map. Is all that a fair assessment, and how do you explain it? “I think our situation here in Oconee is very unique. This is a very close-knit community that has two schools that have had tremendous success both academically and athletically. I would say that our communities have a lot of respect for one another. The students in the communities have grown up together. They may have attended different elementary, middle or high schools, but a lot of them have played youth sports together or hang out together on the weekends. With that being said, there is also a lot of pride in both communities and the residents of each community are very passionate about their particular side of the county. I think the mixture between the respect for one another and the pride of both schools is what makes the rivalry so healthy and competitive.”
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