Alex Williams wants to bring a state championship mentality to Aberdeen High School.
After serving as an assistant coach at West Point High School in each of the last four seasons, Williams was approved by the Monroe County School Board as the new head football coach at Aberdeen High School last week.
“He is going to make a great head coach,” West Point High School head coach Chris Chambless said. “I am surprised we had him as long as we did. He relates to the young guys so well. He always has high energy and is always supportive. He made countless contributions to our program.”
Williams coached the running backs at West Point. His final three seasons there saw consecutive Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A state championships, thanks in large part to a powerful running game.
Prior to that, Williams spent five seasons as an assistant at Aberdeen, with two of those being as offensive coordinator.
In his return to his alma mater, Williams replaces Eric Spann, who resigned at the end of the 2018 season. The Bulldogs finished 5-7 with a first-round playoff loss in the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs.
Spann coached four seasons, including an 11-4 record in 2015.
“They always have the athletes,” Williams said. “It’s our job as coaches to put them in a position to be successful. It’s exciting for this to be my first head coaching job. We are going to work hard to get things going in the right direction.”
In 2018, West Point averaged 272.3 yards per game on the ground. Prior to that season, Williams worked closely with the running back duo of Mississippi State’s Marcus Murphy and Northwest Mississippi Community College’s Chris Calvert.
“He relates well to the players,” Chambless said. “When he came here he was eager to learn all of the aspects of our program. This is a great hire. We are all proud of him.”
Williams grew a lot in his latest coaching stop.
“The thing I learned there was responsibility,” Williams said. “All the coaches were in it together. All ideas were discussed. Anything that can be done to help the kids and to help the program was going to happen.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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