Noxubee County High School head football coach Tyrone Shorter will begin his sixth season on Aug. 21 when the Tigers play host to Class 6A power Starkville High.
Under Shorter, the Tigers won the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A state championship in both 2012 and 2014. The 2014 squad won its final 11 games to finish the season 14-2.
Shorter was the school’s defensive coordinator in 2008 when current Louisville High School coach M.C. Miller led Noxubee County to the state championship.
Q: Looking back at last season, how was the 2014 Noxubee County team able to win the (Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A) state championship?
A: We grew up. At the beginning, we had a young ballclub, especially offensively. As the season went on, we learned who we were. We made a lot of corrections and made some changes (after a season-opening loss to Starkville). We got better after that.
After the first game last year, it woke us up as coaches and players. Sometimes a good butt-whipping will wake you up. I thought our coaches did a very good job of making the right changes. Our players were really good with adjustments throughout the season.
When the year began, I thought we would have a good football team. You don’t know if you will get growth and maturity. I thought we really grew up as the season progressed. We made plays. We got better defensively. We slowed things down and the kids really took off.
Q: Any successful season usually involves a sequence of events or a turning point. As a coach, can you and your staff sense when that moment takes place?
A: This group here is different We do have a lot of players returning, especially on offense. On defense, we have some holes to fill. I think the turning point for this team was at the beginning of the summer.
As we began the summer, I thought we were terrible on defense. This group has come in and worked hard every day and bought in to what we are trying to do. We didn’t have to get on kids about missing practice because they were here. Each day, they got better. The first 7-on-7 we went to at Mississippi State, I thought we were horrible. As the summer progressed, we got better and better.
This team is hungry. This senior group wants to win a championship as seniors. They are becoming the leaders we need them to be. Our seniors really started getting on some of our younger kids during practice and during workouts. When our seniors started showing leadership and taking over this team, that was the turning point, that was really huge going forward for this upcoming season.
Q: When your team has won two state championships in three seasons, is it easier to get the kids to buy into what they need to do?
A: Our kids expect to win. No matter who we play, they expect to win the game. That is what I like about these kids. The name on the front of the other team’s jersey doesn’t scare these kids. They expect to win every game they play. When you take the field with that level of confidence, it helps.
When they lose, they cry their hearts out, because it means so much to them. It is easier as a coach when the kids expect to win. The tradition of this program is tall. Every year, the kids expect to win a championship and our community expects us to win a championship. There is pressure, but the kids are up to the challenge and the coaches are up to the challenge.
I like the expectation because it makes us work even harder as coaches. The players work even harder and do a great job of pushing themselves. It is easy to coach these kids here. For these kids, football is mainly all they have. That is why they are at practice. I don’t have anything else to fight with them about. There is nothing here. So everybody is waiting on Friday nights. Everybody is waiting on football season. Even from the junior high level, those kids expect to win. That makes our job easier.
Q: Speaking of the community, with the program having won three championships in seven seasons overall, have the games here on a Friday night turned into an even bigger event?
A: All coaches in this profession would want to be in this position. Some coaches coach 30 or 40 years in this profession and never have a chance to win a championship. I have been a part of three since I have been here and each one of those is very special. I will always relish what each of those teams was able to accomplish.
We work so hard each year to try to get back there. This upcoming year, we have a very good football team coming back. We have to work extremely hard to get back to the championship. It is a goal and it is a motivation. That is something we have never done here. We have never repeated (as state champions). So that is our goal and our mind-set. It has something that has never been done at Noxubee County, so the opportunity to do that is very special.
We thought we would have done it by now. However, that is what we are pushing our kids to accomplish.
Q: On an annual basis, your non-region schedule is not for the faint of heart. What goes into scheduling such a difficult grind?
A: Well, actually two things are at work there. First, we do want to play a challenging schedule. I think the only way you get better is from playing the best competition possible. As said earlier, our kids always believe they are going to be successful on a Friday night. So if you feel that way, you should play the best and see how you measure up.
Secondly, we have a difficult time finding games. We call a lot of schools each year and they simply won’t play us. This year, we have an out-of-state opponent (Aledo, Texas). Fortunately, we got a game with Meridian at the last minute. I had called them earlier in the spring and they didn’t have an opening. Then something they were planning fell through, so we worked out a game. It’s not like the schools we weren’t calling didn’t have the same dates available, too.
We have Starkville, Columbus and West Point as our first three home games of the season. That is good for our community. We need these types of games. We need the financial support from these games and the kids need the opportunity to see this type of competition. There is little doubt we have been a whole lot better the second half of the season each year that I have been here due to the competition.
Q: After winning the 2012 championship, the next team was in the role of defending that title. Can the sophomores from that team benefit from that experience as once again, it is an opportunity to defend a championship?
A: Sometimes, you worry about whether the kids are hungry enough. The veteran players in this program have won a championship. As sophomores, you learned from that experience (falling short on 2013) and then you found a way to get the job done a year later. So then how do you respond?
It seems like every senior class here wants to win its own championship. It is your last time to play here, so you want to leave on a high mark. I think the kids take pride in that and really want to make that extra push. We had a bunch of kids last year as juniors play and play a lot. We tell them they helped the seniors win a championship. Now, the challenge is to go out and win your own championship for your own senior class.
When we talk to the juniors each year, we talk to them about a chance to help the seniors. We tell them they will want help next year when they are in their last year trying to win a title. As coaches, you always worry about whether your kids are satisfied. We are in a unique situation here. The expectations are high but we have had the success to back those expectations up.
Q: So overall, there is a high level of optimism for the upcoming season?
A: Offensively, we are going to be very good. We are going to score a lot of points. We should move the ball on a regular basis and we have several play-makers.
On defense, we have the parts. We have really grown up a lot on that side of the ball. We have to keep growing though because there is where we have a lack of experience.
However, the challenge of repeating is exciting. It has given our season a theme. The kids have worked hard during the off-season. We have had success in the classroom and the field. The kids know the expectations. Now it is simply going out there and making sure we do our part to get the job done.
Follow Dispatch Sports Writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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