New Pepperell football coach Rick Hurst eager to build on Dragons' tradition

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Growing up in Dade County, Rick Hurst always knew about Pepperell. And when the opportunity came to possibly coach the school, he jumped at it.

“It’s all about tradition. Growing up, I knew about them. They were always a class ahead of us, so we didn’t play them. I came to Rome twice a week every week to play (high school) baseball against Armuchee, Coosa and Model,” he said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I’ve always circled this area of the state. If a job became available, I wanted to pursue it. When it (the Pepperell job) came open this year, I immediately put my resume and cover letter together.”

Hurst stood out among the candidates to be the new Pepperell football coach and on Tuesday the Floyd County Board of Education approved his hiring.

The Dade County native has spent the past 10 seasons in Newton County at the helm of Eastside High School. Before that, he served as an offensive coordinator for several programs in South Georgia.

“I started my career as an offensive coordinator in South Georgia. We ran the shotgun and threw it around all over the place,” Hurst said. “I didn’t want to go under center but as I kept coaching, I knew we had to run the ball. We’re a zone-style team. We run a lot of what you see from Auburn and Oregon, but also we mesh everything we’ve learned and picked up over the years.”

The offensive philosophy worked during his stints as an offensive coordinator and at Eastside where he compiled a 66-46 record, while taking the Eagles to the playoffs five times.

He inherited a team in 2005 that hadn’t won a game the previous year.

“I had visions of grandeur and any head coach has an ego. I thought we would walk in there and win immediately. We were within a couple of plays of wining four or five games my first year, but the kids didn’t know how to win yet. The weight room work was almost non-existent,” Hurst said. “We stuck with a plan and had a great group of freshmen that grew with us. We were able to advance record wise every year.”

The 2005 team did finish 0-10 but three years later, the Eagles won 11 games and lost to Cairo in the Class AAA State Quarterfinals. The next year, Eastside won 11 games again and lost to Peach County, 21-14, in the Class AAA Semifinals.

Both Cairo and Peach County went on to claim the Class AAA State Title those years.

Hurst isn’t only about offense as he has also coached plenty of defense as well, and he said his defensive philosophy is built on pressure.

“I’ve run on odd front and an even front. It all depends on players. With defense, we can have the ability to be more creative,” he said. “The one thing that I do like to do is be aggressive. I like to be able to bring pressure from all over the place and keep offenses guessing.”

Hurst doesn’t shy away from expectations and even a post on his twitter account @HeadCoachHurst on Wednesday showed it.

The Dragons’ new coach posted, “Get ready Dragons! We have a mission. Region 5-AAA is our goal. Nothing worth having comes without a price.”

When talk of expectations came up in the interview, Hurst quickly responded.

“Having expectations helps motivate me as a coach. If that’s not what drives you, then you’re not in the right business,” he said. “I feel confident that the expectations are that they want to compete. We’ve been able to put a team on the field to compete with the big boys (at Eastside). We beat Carrollton two years in a row in the state playoffs and played with Cairo. I want us to be in the top echelon of Class AAA.”

Along with those sentiments, Hurst is right out front with his goals.

“My expectation is to win Region 5-AAA next year,” he said. “Our goal is to win the region championship every year.”

Pepperell is a regular playoff contender just missing reaching the playoffs in 2014 for the first time in eight years. But the Dragons haven’t won a region title since 2006.

And now, Hurst can’t wait to immerse himself in the football culture at Pepperell.

“I look forward to getting there in the community and getting involved,” he said. “I fell in love with it, because everything is Dragons there. Here it’s a three-school team. Driving through Lindale, there is no doubt about who everyone is pulling for.”

Jim Alred is the Sports Editor for the Rome News-Tribune.

Source: Rome News

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