Today’s interviewee is Perry coach Kevin Smith, whose team defeated LaGrange 34-4 last week in a Class 4A game to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2007. Perry is a region champion for the first time since 1959.
Kevin Smith, Perry head coach
1. What’s the significance of these historic accomplishments for Perry? “The journey this year has been unbelievable. With all of the COVID restrictions and shutdowns, our kids have grown in so many ways. Starting 0-3, not only losing to some good football teams but crosstown rivals, made for a rough start. We knew we had an experienced team returning. We just had to figure out a few key spots lost to graduation, and not having spring or preseason games to evaluate slowed the process of getting our players in the right position for this team. We took a ‘watering the root’ mentality, and it has paid off. Play the next play, do the next rep at practice better than you did the last one. View adversity as a learning opportunity instead of pointing fingers and blaming others. The fruit has come in abundance with the first region championship in 61 years and hosting a quarterfinal game for the first time in school history and only playing in the quarterfinals for the second time in school history. The only other appearance was in 2007 when current two-time All-Pro cornerback Casey Hayward of the L.A. Chargers was a two-way player at corner and quarterback.”
2. What would you like people to know about your team? “This team has persevered through a lot of adversity since the start of summer workouts on June 8. Instead of blaming others, this team has learned from its mistakes and learned how to battle back when things don’t go their way. This team has learned how to put the team first and put others before themselves. The positive culture we as coaches and administration have established here over the past few years is really paying off. Being a positive person does not come natural for a lot of people. We have to work at it. The adverse situations throughout this year have really made us connect more as a team. Our senior leaders took it upon themselves to connect more with other members on the team by getting together outside of school and football. The fruit is what Panther Nation and the state of Georgia are seeing now.”
3. You started 0-3 and 2-4. Did you know all along that you had a region-title contender, or did the team grow into it? What did you expect from this team this year? “We knew we were going to have a good football team headed into the season. Competing for the region championship in 2019 for the first time since 1983 gave us the momentum we needed to set the goal for winning the region in 2020. I really believe in my faith and that everything happens for a reason. The losses early to good football teams made us better. We then started region play 2-0 headed into an open week. We had lost a game to COVID shutdown and were able to pick up a game with Tift County. We went down and competed well with them and came up short, but it made us better as a team. We hit more adversity and our team kept learning how to overcome it and drew closer together from the loss instead of the negative things that usually come after a loss.”
4. When you were hired, Perry had just finished four straight losing seasons. Now, Perry has completed four straight winning seasons. What was the most important thing that you and your staff did to make the program a winner? “The most important thing we did as a staff was change the culture to positive team-first mentality. We believe in building young men, teaching them to do things the right way on and off the field. To serve their heart not their talent. We focused on Perry and not who we are playing. We did not focus on wins and losses. We focused on getting better each play. We learned that just by doing things the right way does not mean you are always going to win. We had to learn how to persevere through the good and the bad. We have faith in what we do, and it has spread to our players. They know that we care and love them for who they are outside of football. We feel that if we can continue to build young men, we will win a lot of football games. We are seeing the fruit of all the hard work from the past four years. Our mission and vision statement tells our story. It shows us where we are going and how we are going to get there. ‘On The Prowl’ is the name of our mission/vision statement, and it is defined as: One TEAM on a Mission to GREATNESS!”
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily, a free e-mail newsletter. To join the mailing list, click here.
About the Author
