Bernard Goodrum, Griffin head coach
Today’s interviewee is Griffin coach Bernard Goodrum, whose team is 7-3 in his first season. Griffin was 1-9 the previous two seasons. Goodrum is a Griffin native who played for rival Spalding before going on to star at Fort Valley State. Goodrum coached six seasons in college football. He was a head coach for three seasons at B.E.S.T. Academy and brought that program from 0-8-1 to 4-6 in three seasons. Griffin will play at home Friday against Lithonia in the Class 4A first round. It will be Griffin’s first home playoff game since 2020.
1. What’s been the most important thing that you and your staff have done to get Griffin going in the right direction? “The first thing was hiring a really good staff. The administration allowed us to get the guys in that were going to be program changers and culture builders. We have 11 coaches on the staff. I think there were six last year, so we added five guys, and we were able to get a DFO [director of football operations, Shaquita Blount]. She does a lot for us from pregame meals to academics to concessions. That takes a lot of pressure off me.
“Outside of that, the biggest thing we did was change the structure of practice. We played a lot more football. We were playing OTAs and 7-on-7s a couple of times a week in the summer. Our practices focused on physicality. There has been a lot more scrimmaging and game-like situations. From listening to the kids, that’s one of the biggest things that was different compared to previous years.”
2. What has been the reaction at the school/community to the turnaround? “We’re definitely seeing more school pride. There’s more people in the stands at games. We’re starting something new with the Bear Walk. We park our buses 200 feet from the stadium and allow fans watch us go to the fieldhouse, and they’ve been engaging them. We started it against Central-Carrollton. That was probably not the best team to start it on [Griffin lost that one 56-21], but it was homecoming, and it was an idea we’ve always had. We had a tailgate for the homecoming classes, and we wanted to engage with them, and that’s been pretty fun and good for the kids.”
3. What would you want people to know about this year’s team? What do you do well? “We play a physical brand of football. We run the ball, and we stop the run. We play with passion. But the biggest thing I’d want people to know is that these guys stayed and stuck around. We have 25 seniors. They did what a lot of high school players are not doing when things get bad, which is to find what they think is a better situation. I’m the third head coach for these seniors, and they’ve been able to win more this year than we did combined the last three years. That’s a tribute to those kids' willingness to go through hard stuff, and now they can compete and play in the playoffs. Their bond is really good.”
4. If high school coaches were allowed one timeout per game to call anyone on their phone for a three-minute chat, to help them figure out a jam, or decide what they should do next, who are you going to call? “It would be my dad [Reggie Goodrum]. He’s going to be at every game. He was really my first or second football coach. He coached parks and rec for 22 years. He’s going to give me coaching advice anyway, sometimes when I don’t ask for it. He’d be the first I’d call, and he’d have a great play for me.”
