WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Northside football's new coach Chad Alligood hit the ground running after his hire in January.
The coach, now in his third stint with the eagles, evaluated how to bring the program back to it's long established championship roots.
"What can we do to springboard us back on top as quick as possible and I think we made some changes in some certain areas to help us do that, but our expectations are always going to be the same here at Northside High and they're high," Alligood said.
Alligood is in his 15th year working for Northside. He began in 1999 as an assistant until 2004, then from 2010 to 2016, and now again in 2020.
He has worked under Eagle football legends Conrad Nix and Kevin Kinsler, both of whom brought state titles to Northside.
Now at the helm himself, he was tasked with building his own coaching staff. Among other coaches are two smash-mouth hires. Former Mercer offensive coordinator Casey Vogt was the first to jump in the Alligood boat as his defensive coordinator. The pair are longtime friends and their first conversation wasn't about X's and O's.
"There wasn't even a job offer, it was just two guys talking about how you run an organization," Vogt said.
"His energy level and his details and everything he's brought to the table with us has been more than I even expected. He has been a homerun hire for us," Alligood said.
Although offense was the focus for much of his coaching career, Vogt has no problem returning to his defensive foundations.
He played linebacker in high school, defensive line in college and his dad was a defensive coordinator.
"Coach Alligood asked would you mind being on defense so what I've done is kind of reverse engineered all of my thinking," Vogt said.
Offensively, Shane Sams, the former offensive coordinator at Warner Robins and a demon grad, will be the head man.
Northside has long been a ground and pound option type of offense, but Sams says folks can expect to see the ball in the air more in 2020.
Still, like any good coach, he'll tailor the offense to the talent he has on the field.
"I like to throw it around, but if I sat here and told you we're going to throw it 70, 80 percent, 90 percent of the time I would be lying to you because I don't know yet," Sams said. "I don't know what our guys can do and we'll figure that out once we get back to school."
With his coaches in place, Alligood can focus more on running the program and changing its culture. He implemented Life Wednesdays and brings in special guests to teach his players life skills beyond running, jumping or throwing.
"Our kids just trying to be better men, because football is going to end for all of us at some point, it's going to be over. I want to put as many tools in their toolbox to be successful in life as I possibly can," Alligood said.
For now Alligood builds champions in life, but they hope come August, they can work towards being champions on the football field.
Like so many teams, the Eagles are anxious to get back on the field. They open their 2020 season with an in-house rivalry against Veterans.
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