Northside-Warner Robins new coach hopes to wake the sleeping giant
There’s a saying, maybe you’ve heard of it, “Never wake a sleeping giant.” It’s as old as time itself.
From 1992 to 2018, Northside-Warner Robins’ football team had a record of 290-62 and never had a losing season. That included 17 straight seasons, 1998 to 2014, during which the Eagles won at least 10 games while claiming 12 region championships and three state championships. Since 2018, they’ve had just two winning seasons and a record of 30-37.
Following a 2-8 season, the program’s worst since 1965, Northside threw a Hail Mary, and the Eagles’ new coach, Daniel “Boone” Williams, was on the other end of that pass.
“I’ve lost to Northside-Warner Robins more times, as a head coach, than I’ve beaten them,” Williams said. “So, I’m very familiar with who they were and what it was about, and the opportunity to go coach that, I couldn’t turn down.”
Perhaps this is an example of how the shadow of the sleeping giant can loom large in the eyes of coaches across the state. Williams is actually 2-0 as a head coach against Northside, winning in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, but he remembers playoff losses to Northside’s state championship team while on Creekside’s staff in 2007 and then in 2016 while a Hughes assistant.
Coach Boone, as he is known within Georgia coaching circles, had just come off another successful year at Hughes. He finished 13-2 and led his team to the Class 5A championship game, which Hughes lost 56-35 against Milton, a team considered one of the best in the country. His 61 victories since 2020 are tied for the most among active GHSA coaches with Buford’s Bryant Appling and Pierce County’s Ryan Herring.
“First, we’ve got to break the mindset. We’ve got to shift the mindset. Shift the culture,” Williams said. “You’ve got to have a winning attitude to win, and I don’t know how much of a winning mindset they had prior to me.”
One that Williams has done to show his current players what Northside-right looks like is to retain or bring back former players from Northside’s glory days to the program as coaches.
“When it comes to getting them back to the rich traditions and history, I had to use staff that knew it. How can I get somebody else to help me bring them back, and they don’t know it? I targeted guys with Northside ties.”
Williams hired nine new coaches to join his staff at Northside-Warner Robins. One of those coaches, hired from rival Warner Robins, is Marques Ivory, the legendary quarterback who led the Eagles to back-to-back 15-0 finishes in 2006-07. Ivory is the team’s offensive coordinator.
Another is defensive line coach Abry Jones, who returns to the staff. Jones also played on those two championship teams and is the best defensive player in school history. He starred at Georgia and played eight NFL seasons, retiring in 2021.
Another former NFL player from Northside, Corey Harris, was hired from Dalton. Other Northside alumni on the staff are Curtis Haslem, Trey Scott, Daniel Sayles, DeSean Dinkins and Miguel Williams.
Williams let his players know that the guys on the field with them were the guys who would be the ones to change the culture and create a new culture of winning.
“Best man up,” Williams said. “We are who we are, and we are not getting anybody to transfer in. You are the players.”
Returning only four starters from last year’s program, Williams will have to lean on young and inexperienced players to kick-start this turnaround.
“We’re throwing it at them,” Williams said. “You can’t hold back with some young guys. I got to see how much they can retain. That’s all I did at Langston (Hughes). I played young guys, and they grew up. We won a state championship. I played young guys, and they grew up. We played in a state championship.”
In Northside’s spring game against Mount Zion-Jonesboro on May 15, Williams started rising freshmen at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. However, rising senior wide receiver Briston Blasingame will need to be the leader of the offense to help this team rise to new heights.
On the defensive side, Williams is excited to see 4-star defensive end Elijah Patmon. In the spring, Patmon showed the ability to be a disruptor in the backfield of opposing offenses.
“I understand where I am,” Williams said. “I understand why I got the job. I understand what they want this program to go back to. They didn’t hire me to stay where we are. They hired me to go back where we were and beyond.”