By Ashley Hargrove
Allen Creasy has spent numerous hours talking football with his father Don Creasy, a legendary coach at Colbert County, over the years. But the one thing that’s stuck with Allen since becoming a coach is that to make your team better, you’ve got to be willing to make adjustments.
That piece of advice is something he admits he’s tried to bring to the Athens High program.
“We don’t try to make our players fit our program,” Creasy said. “We try to make the program fit our players.”
Since taking over the Golden Eagle program in 2000, Creasy has compiled a 66-44 record with seven playoff appearances. And that includes a 12-3 record posted in 2006, the same year Athens won its third state championship in the program’s history.
So what can be expected from Creasy’s team this season after finishing with a 6-5 campaign last year?
With fall football practice set to begin Monday, The News Courier sat down with Creasy and asked five questions about his football team and the upcoming season. Here’s what the Golden Eagle coach had to say:
Q: You had the opportunity to coach under Steve Rivers during his time at Athens High from 1996-1999. Although he hasn’t officially been approved yet, there are plans for him to help with the team this fall. What has it been like having him back as a part of the program?
CREASY: Just having him back in town and having him around and being able to see him regularly is a good thing for me, personally. Anytime you have someone around your program that has the experience he has, it’s an advantage.
Q: Seniors Chris Cain, Jamaal Bess, Julius Jones and Tyree Malone as well as a few others all played a significant role on Athens’ playoff team last fall. What are your expectations for them this fall?
CREASY: The guys we have returning that have playing experience, we’re expecting them to come back this year better than they have been before. With the off season program that we have, we should be stronger, faster and should be able to take the experience that we’ve gotten from years past and be able to start at a point to where we’re better than where we were last year. They understand the sense of urgency that comes along with being a senior. There are no second chances at this point and they’ve accepted that role well. We have some guys that have a lot of experience that are pretty good athletes and we’re expecting a lot from them not just in their production for their specific position, but we’re expecting a lot of them as far as their leadership is concerned and their ability to bring some toughness to the other guys that haven’t been here before.
Q: Athens has had a good track record of sending players to Division I programs with some having gone on to play in the NFL. What do you think that means for the program?
CREASY: I think that it raises the expectations that the players have of what the program can offer them. It certainly gives them something to look at in knowing that if they do what’s expected of them then they are going to have that opportunity. We have the advantage of having players that have moved on to the next level and even the next level after that who come back here and work out with these guys, talk to them and kind of reiterate things that we say to them now, so that certainly helps. To have a guy like Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers quarterback) who’s going to come back and work out with the players during the summer is a great advantage that we have.
Q: The AHSAA Central Board recently voted to extend the region playoff format through 2012. Are you for region play, or would you rather return to the old area format that was used until the 2000 season?
CREASY: It really doesn’t matter to me. The only thing that I hope changes is that region play will allow us to play Decatur again. As long as we can play our traditional rivals, whether it’s region play or area play, it doesn’t matter to me. I want to be able to play Decatur. I know our players do, I know our community does, and I know Decatur wants it, too. They reassured us at the last meeting that we attended that they were going to take care of that and that we’re going to be able to play those rival games.
Q: Fall practice is set to begin Monday. What are some areas you will be addressing?
CREASY: The first thing you have to address this time of year is conditioning. We’re going to have to get in better shape just like everybody else is. Then we have to work on our timing and focus. A lot of times that’s the first thing to go when you’re in shorts is focus and concentration. That’s something that we stress, is staying on task, doing your job and making sure you’re taking care of the little things now. When you get in pads, especially early, and you can start hitting and doing the things that traditionally you think of doing during football practice, then it’s a little more exciting and a little more fun. Right now, it gets a little monotonous when you’re in shorts, and maintaining that focus and the level of intensity is the key.
