Coffee coach talks academics, helmet stickers, football

Coffee ended the 2024 season with an 11-3 record and a loss in Class 5A semifinals to Hughes 49-26. The season off the field was far from over, however. Coffee had 22 players make High School Football America’s  Academic All-America Team, the most of any Georgia school.

“The main thing is, during the season, our kids can get stickers on their helmets two ways,” Coffee coach Mike Coe said. “When we win, everybody gets a sticker because everybody contributed, and then Friday at pregame meal, I’ll read out emails from our teachers.”

At the first staff meeting of every year, Coe gives all teachers a roster of players and lets them know they should email him if they have issues with his players. Teachers also email Coe every week during the season. Coe then reads those emails back to the players on Fridays before games.

These emails are the source of the helmet stickers you see on the players’ helmets. Coe says the kids take this challenge seriously. “It becomes a competition to our kids,” he said.

Coe emphasized how his relationship with the faculty allows him to push this culture of not only athletic achievement but academic integrity.

“We have a tremendous faculty at Coffee High School,” Coe said. “They get it.”

For teacher appreciation, players and coaches sacrificed time in the weight room and training to host a car wash for the faculty.

The Academic All-America team was selected by ScoutSMART, a local company that helps match high school athletes and their academic profiles to college programs. To be eligible for Academic All-America, coaches must report to ScoutSMART their varsity football players who carry a 3.7 GPA. Not all schools nominate, but Coe uses the opportunity to make a point about academics and send a message to its players.

“You don’t have to have a Power 4 offer to go for free,” Coe said. “You can go for free and not have to take out student loans. ... I’m not going to push a kid to go to school and then graduate with over $100,000 worth of loans.”

Coe wants his players to know that every route to playing football and free education after high school may be different.

“We got a big ole’ right tackle that’s 6 feet 320 pounds, but he is a heck of a diesel mechanic, and he can fix lawnmowers,” Coe said. “I told him, ‘Big man, if they don’t zero you out (cover the remainder of your tuition), go right there to Wiregrass (Wiregrass Georgia Technical College) and go make more money than all of us.”

As for the on-field stuff, Coffee should have another good team this fall. Coffee is 36-6 in Coe’s three seasons, with a 2023 Class 5A championship, the first state title in school history.

Coffee is returning four starters on both offense and defense. The team spent its spring working mostly on game situations such as third-and-long and two-minute to help with the lack of experience.

The team graduated all-state running back Tyrese Woodgett, who rushed for 2,340 yards. He is now at Georgia Military College. The nine leading tacklers must be replaced, including Region 2 defensive player of the year Chris Reid. Returning is K.J. Debruce, who had 968 all-purpose yards.

Senior quarterback Trey Ross played in eight games as a sophomore but sat out his junior year. Ross will be replacing Bray Coe, the coach’s son, who will be playing at Cumberland College. Coe and other players were impressed by what the new quarterback showed off in the spring.

“We got him back, and he’s about 195 (pounds) and has gotten so much faster and quicker,” Coe said. “Our kids believe in him, and he's done a really good job of leading.”

Coe came to Coffee having won five state titles and four in his past five years at Madison County, Fla., just before taking the Coffee job.

Coe credits the administration and community as a whole for the program's success. The superintendent, Morris Leis, and the principal, Van Allen, played football at Coffee.

“You know, they get it,” Coe said. “They just get it, because they’ve had a helmet on and they’ve played and (have) given me every opportunity to bring great men on my staff. ... One thing I’ve learned, you’ve got to have good players, but you better have good administration.”

Coe sounds like he’s made Douglas home.

“We’re just kind of one big family, man,” Coe said. “It’s not just football, it’s with band, it’s with chorus, it’s with cheerleading, the art club. Everybody’s just for the kids.  It’s just a special place.”

Coffee’s 2025 schedule:

8/15 vs. Bainbridge

8/22 at Ware County

8/29 at Columbia County, Fla.

9/12 vs. Gadsden County, Fla.

9/19 vs. Mainland, Fla.

9/26 at Northside-Warner Robins

10/3 vs. Lee County

10/17 at Houston County

10/24 at Veterans

10/31 vs. Thomas County Central