Jefferson’s Craig Hunter was tabbed earlier this year as the coach to turn around the school’s football program that has won a combined three games the past three seasons.
“Everybody has been pretty supportive,” Hunter said. “I’m a hometown guy – was born and raised in this area. The main thing right now is that I have some coaching spots I’m trying to fill up and get done, as well as making sure everything is going on with our offseason program.”
Hunter, who has been coaching in the eastern panhandle since 1998, takes over at Jefferson after Richard Mills resigned, going a combined 28-54 over nine seasons. Hunter had a stint at Washington High as the offensive coordinator before joining Mills’ staff for the past two seasons.
“We’re just drawing a line in the sand and what’s in the past is in the past, we’re going to let that go,” Hunter said. “I want to bring excitement and energy to the practice field. That’s the main thing we want to do – get them excited about playing.”
Hunter certainly knows how to motivate players, winning four state championships as the head coach of the Jefferson boys track program.
“Coaching is coaching. Coaching is motivating and being able to teach kids. If we can motivate these kids to be excited about Jefferson High football again when we get them out on the football field, then we can teach them what they need to know and how to actually be successful,” Hunter said. “Success breeds success, so once we get some success going, then we can keep things generating like that.”
But with so little success for the football program over the past decade — one winning season, 2004, in nine years under the previous staff — building confidence and a winning mindset will be one of the early challenges.
“We have to get them mentally prepared to know that things might not happen over night, but we have to keep our eyes on the goal,” Hunter said. “The goal is to teach these guys how to become winners. We haven’t been as successful as we’ve wanted to be in the past, so some of these young athletes haven’t really been able to deal with adversity well. We need to have them properly prepared for the challenges they’re going to face so they can overcome what they’re going to see.”
Jefferson and Hunter will open the 2013 season against the new Spring Mills High on Aug. 30.