The clarity might be the first thing you notice.
Even though you”re several hundred feet away from the practice field, the words reverberate sharply and cause you to pick up your pace.
As you turn the corner, the words slam into you, prompting you to break into a sprint.
You hustle into place and hope today is a good day and that he doesn”t single you out because, truth be told, he is loud and the words can get caught up in the helmet and stay with you for a while.
They echo inside your head so much you wonder if you could hear him back at the high school.
You almost can because Tony Stanford doesn”t have any problem being heard.
As much as Stanford”s booming baritone has earned him one kind of reputation, there is another side to the man that has allowed him to last more than 30 years as a coach.
“He doesn”t play any games,” Columbus High School senior linebacker Chris Richardson said. “He doesn”t show any favoritism to anybody. He treats everybody the same, like a coach should. He will be friends with you, but if you mess up he will get on you. He will motivate you to do better and better.”
The caring, quieter side is the yin to the gruff, louder side that is Stanford”s yang. Together, he hopes his coaching style will be what the Falcons need this season.
Columbus begins that journey at 7:30 tonight when it plays at Aberdeen High School in its season opener.
The game will be a rematch of last season”s 2009 opener that Columbus won in overtime. Unfortunately, that victory was one of only three Columbus had last year en route to a 3-8 finish.
Earlier this year, veteran coach Bubba Davis retired, leaving Columbus without a coach. Offensive coordinator Grady McCluskey left the school to become head football coach at Ripley High.
Stanford heard whispers he wasn”t going to be named Columbus” new coach even though he has extensive experience. He has coached at Kosciusko, Louisville, Carroll Academy, Lumberton, Neshoba Central, Philadelphia, Morton, and Choctaw Central. He has been a head coach at Louisville, Philadelphia, Morton, and Choctaw Central high schools, and won a state championship at Louisville.
But last month Columbus High named Stanford its football coach, and his goal is to build on what Davis and the rest of that staff started.
“They see what I say I am going to do,” Stanford said. “I am not talking about anybody, but maybe in the past people said they are going to do this and might have let it slide. I think they have seen I am not going to let something slide. If you are willing to pay the price you can be part of us. If you are not going to pay the price, we are not going to keep you around.
“I am not trying to say I run kids off. In my coaching career I have probably run five kids off in 15 years as a head coach. The way I talk, everybody thinks I am running them out of here.”
Stanford”s voice on the practice field feeds that perception. If you have attended a Columbus practice, you know you can hear Stanford coaching players on the practice field all of the way from the fieldhouse. His voice would fit perfectly with John Facenda”s famous narratives on NFL Films.
Stanford said parents have told him they wouldn”t let their children play for him because he is too loud. He said some accused him of cursing at players because he was so loud, but Stanford said he has to be “pushed to the limit” to do that.
He also related a story from his time as head football coach at Louisville High that parents could hear him from the parking lot of Walmart, which was a quarter of a mile from the school. When those fans came to Columbus High last year to watch the Wildcats play the Falcons, they came over after the game and told him they didn”t know he was at the school until they heard him.
“I tell the kids I am a loud person,” Stanford said. “If you can”t take me, you need to come talk to me. I am going to be loud, but I have never had kids who don”t get along with me.”
Off the field, though, Stanford operates at a significantly lower decibel level. He makes sure his players know he cares about them, that he is approachable, and that he knows when to have fun and when to be serious.
“Coach Stanford is the coach we needed,” Richardson said. “He is the coach who pushed us, trained us for the game.”
Davis, who is working with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the area and as an assistant football coach at Immanuel Christian, agrees. He has known Stanford for years and enjoyed having him as his defensive coordinator for two years. He believes Stanford was the right choice to lead the program because he is able to continue what was built in the first two seasons.
“He is just a good man,” Davis said. “He is one of those guys if I had a son who wanted to play I would want him to play for Tony.”
Davis said each football coach has a way of doing things and that it doesn”t always have to mild-mannered. He said Stanford probably was rough and gruff — and, to some extent, still is — when he was younger. But the key is all coaches can be demanding and still care about you and still do everything they can to help you learn and succeed. Stanford is that kind of coach.
“I think the kids trust him last year and felt like all of us cared about them and tried to get them where they needed to be to be successful,” Davis said.
Stanford”s focus comes from an epiphany that helped him realize he wanted to be a coach. He said he didn”t have any idea what he wanted to do for a career until he was a junior in high school. His father had worked as a mechanic all his life, and he said he thought he would follow in his footsteps.
Stanford said he even wrote on a career questionnaire that he thought he would be a diesel mechanic. One day, his high school football coach at Winona High, Wally Bumpus, asked him about what he wrote and encouraged him to be a coach. He also credited Henry Allmand for being a mentor.
Stanford, 56, has taken what he learned from those men and others and, 35 years later, he still loves what he does. He feels blessed to have an opportunity to be a head coach again at a place where he feels he is meant to be.
“I don”t have hobbies,” said Stanford, who also credited Delta State baseball coach Boo Ferriss for helping him. “My hobby is this. I always liked athletics. That is probably the only reason I went to school. Once I got out there and worked with young people I had fun and I had a good time. I always feel young when I am out there with them.
“I have always told people, ”I believe the good Lord puts you where you are supposed to be.” When all of this started, I had phone calls, ”You”re not getting the job at Columbus.” I mean it happened over and over. … I had a chance to go back to Louisville. M.C. Miller wanted to hire me as the offensive line coach. It didn”t work out at Louisville because it wasn”t supposed to. It isn”t what He wanted to. For the last 20 years I have put my life in His hands and let him handle what I am doing. There is something that these kids want or need that He has me here for.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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