Oscar Bonds served as an assistant coach at Piedmont High School for the past 13 seasons, helping the Bulldogs to Class 3A state championships in 2009, 2015 and 2016.

Oscar Bonds knows what it’s like to be part of a winning football program. From his time as a player at Russellville High School and Jacksonville State University to the 13 years he has spent as assistant coach at Piedmont High School, Bonds has gotten used to the taste of winning.

Bonds will now try to take that winning pedigree to Tanner and restore the Rattlers to the success they enjoyed under the coaching of Laron White.

“Tanner reminds me a lot of Piedmont, in that they have a rich tradition of winning,” Bonds said. “When I saw the job come open, I just had to apply for it. I felt it would be a great opportunity.”

The amount of success Bonds has enjoyed at Piedmont, where he was part of a program that won Class 3A state championships in 2009, 2015 and 2016, is what stood out to the Tanner football coach search committee, Limestone County Athletic Director Rusty Bates said.

“The committee really liked him and the traditions he came from,” he said. “We really felt like he would be a good fit. He did pretty much everything there, from coaching special teams to coaching defense to coaching offense. He also ran their middle school program for a time. When you’re looking at head coaches, you’re trying to find someone well-versed in all phases of the game.”

Bonds, 35, was an All-State running back at Russellville in 1999 before playing at Jacksonville State, where he was part of a team that won three Ohio Valley Conference championships. He has been an assistant coach at Piedmont for the past 13 years, coaching special teams, defensive backs, running backs and the middle school program.

“At a small school, you learn to coach every position,” Bonds said. “It helps you be a well-rounded coach. At a bigger school, where you’re only coaching one position, I don’t think you really learn as much as you should.”

Bonds takes over a Tanner program that experienced a great deal of success under White, compiling a 148-30 record and winning state championships in 2012 and 2013. However, the program took a step back in 2017, finishing with a 3-8 record in Maurice Belser’s only season as coach.

Tanner will compete in Class 2A, Region 7 this fall with Addison, Colbert County, Hatton, Red Bay, Sheffield and Tharptown.

Bonds said his biggest early challenge is getting more players to come out for the team and participate in summer workouts. There were games last season in which Tanner dressed fewer than 20 players. Bonds said that has got to change for the program to return to the success it is used to.

“First of all, we’ve got to get the junior high program rolling,” Bonds said. “Tanner has been without a junior high program the past two or three years. Secondly, we’ve got to get kids to come out. I’ve got to get out there and talk to parents and people in the community, see who has played in the past and who is not playing that we need to try to get to play. Summer workouts is where it starts. The offseason is very important to building the program.”

Bonds, whose hire was approved by the Limestone County Board of Education Thursday, has already met with his players and other students and will be having a parent meeting Sunday to try and encourage participation in the football program.

“I’ve talked to the whole school, grades six through 11, trying to get kids to come out,” Bonds said. “I’m trying to get familiar with everybody. It’s time to hit the ground running.”