Today’s interviewee is Riverdale coach Rodney Hackney, whose team clinched Region 5-4A with a 34-0 victory over Luella last week. The title is Riverdale’s first since 1998. The victory was Hackney’s 100th as a head coach. Riverdale is 20-10 in three seasons under Hackney after a 1-9 finish the season before he arrived.
Rodney Hackney, Riverdale head coach
1. What does it mean for the team and community to get the region title? “It means the world to Riverdale’s players, parents, administration and alumni. It has been 22 years since we were able to claim the region title. After the victory on Thursday, I have been receiving celebratory calls, texts and social media posts all day. Actually, our receiver coach, Kerrick Cooper, attended Riverdale High School as a sophomore football player at the time of the last region title in 1998. The significance of this region title has had a major impact within the community.”
2. What would you like people to know about your team? “First, I want people outside of the area to know that Riverdale, Ga., is a football community much like Parkview, Brookwood and Valdosta. We are just a slightly smaller-scale version of those powerhouse programs. Mainly, because Clayton County can be considered a transient area sometimes, but the heart of the people in Riverdale are driven by its football team. We have six generational football players on my team – two of whom I have coached their fathers during my first stint as head football coach in 2001. Riverdale High School will always hold a special place in my heart because they gave me my first start as a head football coach/athletic director at 26 years old, and I was the youngest head coach in the state of Georgia at the time.”
3. You’ve won region titles now at two Clayton County schools [North Clayton being the other], and counting your first stint at Riverdale, you’ve had three experiences with reinvigorating a Clayton County program. Is there a formula to winning in Clayton that’s a little different than other places that you’ve figured out, or is it the same everywhere? “Wow, that’s a great question, and to be honest, it’s just something special about Clayton County that allows me to excel. I have no magical formula to the madness. I started as assistant coach in 1996 under the Clayton County legend Jackie Green at Mount Zion High School – and we won two football region titles, one state runner-up in football, and also I won the first track state championship in Clayton County as the head boys track coach in 2000. I do feel like the people of Clayton County are more of the blue-collar, ‘hard-working’ type people, just like my father and mother were growing up in my house, so I am able to relate to their hard-working mentality. The people in Clayton County have to work very hard for whatever they get, which makes their children the same type of student-athletes on the athletic field, so I definitely think that’s where part of the success comes from.”
4. What brought you back into coaching after three seasons as an athletic director? “Well, in 2014, I was burnt out from coaching. There were a number of reasons that caused me to explore other options. In 2013, my dad, my anchor/mentor passed away. So, I thought it was a good time to find a new passion. Unfortunately, boredom set in after three years of being just an athletic director, so I began searching for programs that peaked my interests. During that time, my son expressed interest in playing football and made it known that he wanted me to coach him in high school. Shortly after, my longtime assistant coach, Max Wiltz, called me regarding an upcoming Riverdale football coach opening. Max said, ‘We should look at going back to Riverdale where it all started for our careers and see if we can finish where we started.’ I also knew I was very close to receiving my 100th career coaching victory if things worked in my favor. With all the opportunities presented, there wasn’t a doubt that I would return as head coach where it all started, Riverdale High School.”
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