Today’s interviewee is South Cobb coach Thomas Hanson, whose team defeated then-No. 4 Kennesaw Mountain 17-15 in a Region 6-6A game last week. South Cobb entered 1-5 overall, 0-4 in region play, and a 40-point underdog by the computer Maxwell Ratings. Hanson, hired in the offseason, had been on staffs at Harrison and Marietta.
Thomas Hanson, South Cobb head coach
1. How does a team that’s 2-18 over its last 20 region games - including 0-4 this year - come to believe that it could beat the first-place team in the region? “I’ll be very honest here and won’t give you a lot of coach speak. We had probably our worst week of practice we’ve had. I was at the point where I just needed to see something in the process that we’re trying to do as a coaching staff to get this turned around, and I didn’t see it. It was frustrating. We thought we matched up pretty well against Kennesaw Mountain, but we’d had other games where we thought that and didn’t play to the level expected. Before the game, I had two of the defensive leaders come up to me and ask if we could start on defense if we won the toss. I usually start on offense. I said if you guys are going to come out and play hard and do what we ask, we’ll defer to the second half. We won the toss. The defense forced a punt. From there, it was a snowball effect. The more good things that happened, the more confident they got. They kept waiting on the other shoe to drop, and it didn’t. We had a few bad things happen in the game, and they were finally able to handle those and not let it get away.”
2. How did the game play out? “We went into halftime up 7-0. The kids were obviously incredibly engaged at halftime. We made a couple of adjustments, but nothing big. Then it was a back-and-forth affair. They scored at the end of the third quarter, and they’re up 8-7 [after a two-point conversion]. I wonder if this is going to be the turning point where we have compound mistakes and let it get away, but the kids didn’t let it happen. We went down the field and scored. They came back and scored, and it’s 15-14. Thursday in practice, I told our place-kicker – his name is Alberto Bibian – you’re going to win the game for us. So we get to their 27 on fourth down. I said we’re going to kick a field goal. Our offensive coordinator said, ‘Are you sure; I’ve got a play where we’re going to score a touchdown.’ I said no, we’re going to kick a field goal. Alberto stroked the ball. It would’ve been good from 50. There was about 50 seconds left. We made a great interception, then kneeled on it.”
3. What has been the reaction to this win not just within the community and on the team? “Obviously it’s been very positive. Everybody loves a winner. We had seniors who had never experienced any kind of success at all, and they literally were crying because they didn’t know how to process it. We did something nobody expected us to do. We had coach staff that were holdovers that were really excited too. They’d never seen that. In getting this win, I don’t want to say it’s confirmation. It’s way too early for that. But it’s definitely a great first step.”
4. Why did you take the South Cobb job? “I’d been in South Cobb’s region when coaching at Harrison for three years and always felt that South Cobb had athletes. I thought the opportunity for success was here. I’d been working on a blueprint for a program the past four years because I thought it was time for me to take on a head coaching job. I’m 15 minutes from the school. It’s in a great community that wants to have a good football program. The opportunity presented itself. I thought the place was a sleeping giant. Sometimes it takes a little longer to wake up that giant, but I definitely feel we’re moving in the right direction.”
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