Nolan Atkins knew he wanted to coach football at an early age.
Atkins fell in love with the game as a teenager when he played at Lee High School in Columbus. Atkins excelled enough to play football at East Mississippi Junior College. He later graduated from Mississippi State.
While his playing career was really good, his coaching career proved even better.
On Saturday afternoon at Sullivan-Windham Field, Atkins will be recognized for that outstanding career when he is inducted into the East Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame.
Third-ranked EMCC faces Coahoma C.C. at 2 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field. The 2013 Hall of Fame class will be recognized prior to kickoff.
“It is quite an honor,” Atkins said. “Football has been very good to me and my family. It has been an outstanding journey. In a lot of ways that journey started at East Mississippi.”
Atkins played for coach Roy Knapp at EMJC in 1954 and 1955. While in Scooba, Atkins learned the nuances of building a team. He loved to study techniques and went on to create innovative offenses.
During a 25-year coach career at Sweet Water (Ala.) High School, Atkins ran the Wing-T offense and prided himself on having tenacious, hard-nosed defenses.
“Football has changed so much over the decades,” Atkins said. “But it is still about playing hard and not making mistakes. Once you win, you can build tradition. Once you build tradition, players grow up knowing the right way to do things.”
While at Sweet Water, Atkins compiled a 229-53-5 record, which included four Alabama High School Activities Association Class 1A state championships. The Bulldogs were state runner-up three times.
For Atkins, the coaching career began at Alcorn County High School in Kossuth. Stints at Robinson High (Tampa, Fla.) and Escambia County High (Atmore, Ala.) followed. In 1966, Sweet Water gave Atkins his first head coaching job. The job there also included coaching baseball, where he guided the program to six state championships.
“I have a love and a desire,” Atkins said. “I knew it was something I wanted to do.”
Atkins ranks seventh all-time among the winningest high school coaches in the state of Alabama. His enshrinement at EMJC will be his fifth Hall of Fame.
After retiring from Sweet Water, Atkins coached six more seasons in the Alabama Independent School Association — at Sumter Academy and Patrician Academy.
When leaving the prep ranks for good, Atkins still couldn’t stay away. He coached four seasons as a volunteer assistant at the University of West Alabama. The final numbers included an 80-percent winning percentage in more than 30 years.
“Like any veteran coach, I was blessed with a lot of great players and a lot of great assistants,” Atkins said. “Everyone has to take pride in your program to truly be successful.”
A charter member of the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 1991, the playing surface at Sweet Water is named in Atkins’ honor. Atkins has been married to former Mary Frances Bryars for 49 years. The couple has four children and nine grandchildren.
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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