In 2012, Josh Alexander and Jeff Herron were on the Archer and Camden County football sidelines respectively, leading playoff pushes.
Three years later, the only thing that changed was the scenery.
Alexander, who in 2014 made the move to Athens Academy, and Herron, who joined Prince Avenue Christian in 2013, enjoyed immediate success while adjusting to new environments. Alexander’s team made it to the playoffs before losing in the first round, and Herron’s team reached the state semifinals.
The adjustment period has been one of adapting to the nuances between public and private school programs. The former has a larger athlete base to pull from but requires fundraising, while the latter may lack in bodies but often has no trouble in obtaining resources and funds.
As Georgia High School Association president Glenn White explained, this can be a huge upper hand.
“A lot of private schools have more financial resources,” White said. “It’s not a priority for the football coach to be involved in fundraising and be involved in the booster club, because all of that is taken care of. But most public schools are going to have booster clubs where those coaches have to work with them and organize that.”
Each coach’s motives behind leaving what are both large, powerhouse football programs differ.
Alexander is a younger coach who grew up in Athens, so the move back home was a natural progression.
“It was a family move, and I wanted to be a part of this community,” Alexander said.
Herron had reached the 30-year threshold to begin receiving retirement benefits under the Georgia Teacher Retirement System. Going to a private school allowed him to earn a double paycheck and take on a new challenge.
“I was at a point where I could retire from public schools,” Herron said. “So that makes it easier to do. You can get your retirement and still have another job.”
When Alexander joined Athens Academy, he and Herron talked about routine and what to expect because they both “come from similar backgrounds.”
Herron had been coaching for over 25 years and has racked up over 250 wins in his career, so he has his routine and philosophy well established. He has noticed a few outlying differences that he was forced to adapt to in his new job.
“The number of kids, the volume for me, and for Coach Alexander too, we didn’t just come from public school, we came from extremely large public schools,” Herron said. “For me, the numbers, whether it’s football players or the schools, just the smaller numbers has presented some challenges and adjustment time.”
Private schools do have the benefit of delving into a talent pool consisting of whoever is willing to come. Cecil Flowe was the longtime coach at Parkview High School and is now an assistant at King’s Ridge High School, a private school, and has seen both sides of this.
He said that winning is the biggest driving force behind recruiting, and that as time progresses, “winning breeds numbers and that brings people to your program because they want to be a part of the winning.”
In short, the issue of quality versus quantity is in full effect. Private schools can target the best quality players — and it is imperative to do so because the quantity of players on its team is far lower than public school. Herron and Alexander say they actually like it this way.
With fewer people comes more time to coach individual players, something that Alexander and Herron have noted. Athens Academy this season had 48 players compared to the 200 Alexander had at Archer, where he was offensive coordinator.
“It’s easier to keep track and build relationships,” Alexander said.
Herron agrees with this assertion, even likening coaching a private school team to that of a family.
“You can have more input and influence with your kids,” Herron said. “It’s like the difference between having one child and six children. If you have one, they are certainly going to get more attention. That’s certainly an advantage.”
Human capital at private schools may be limited and as a result makes attaining good talent a high priority. However, the overall capital is substantial. The vast resources private schools can provide often lifts a huge burden as it relates to coaching responsibilities.
At public schools, most if not all money comes from boosters. No money means not enough resources and this hinders a team’s ability to operate effectively. With the need to raise money all but lifted at his private school, Alexander can focus solely on operating his team.
“(Booster clubs) become an absolute strain on a coach where it just runs your life trying to raise money for a program,” Alexander said. “Any time you take something like that out of your life where it’s supported the way we are at Athens Academy, it’s great.”
Alexander feels so strongly about this that is it something he has mentioned several times to his athletic director Kevin Petroski, who shares the same sentiments about the inherent advantages to the way a private school athletic department operates.
“Being a smaller school, whenever you hire a new coach it gives him an opportunity to be exposed to everyone in a quicker time frame than maybe it would be at a 6-A school or a much larger school and community,” Petroski said.
While both have had almost immediate success at their schools, Alexander and Herron are still at a point early in their tenures. As a result, the ability to point to winning as a selling point towards building a larger athlete pool isn’t something fully afforded.
Also, large schools can afford to keep players at one position because they have the players to do so. One of the big areas this has come into effect is in day-to-day operations.
“The way we practiced at Camden just wouldn’t work here,” Herron said. “We didn’t have the numbers and the kids to rotate. I’ve had to learn to practice, I’ve had to learn to work them in the offseason.”
Alexander has previous experience as an assistant at Washington-Wilkes High School, a public school that had a similar player volume to Athens Academy. While an assistant through his time there, he learned how a practice like this is run. But he admits that the adjustment has been a challenge coming from a 2,500-plus student school like Archer.
“It’s a big difference compared to where I came from there were only a few that played offense, defense, and special teams,” Alexander said. “Practice schedules change, nutrition is a big battle, hydration is a big battle.”
It is apparent that the differences dividing public and private schools are something that have not gone unnoticed by both coaches. Both made the move from large, successful public schools to what was for them largely unknown territory. Thus far, the results have been nothing but positive.
In his 18-year coaching career, Alexander has been in a myriad of different environments and circumstances. After one year at Athens Academy, the program and what it provides has already eclipsed any past experience.
“I have never been a part of an education environment that is so awesome in so many ways,” Alexander said. “To be part of Athens Academy it’s an honor. From firsthand experience, I’ve been all over the state of Georgia coaching football, it is by far one of the best places I have ever been around.”
— The Grady Sports Bureau is part of the sports media program at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.