By Jamie Wachter / Sports Editor
The Meridian Star
NEWTON — When the Newton High football coaching position came open, athletic director Sherrod Miller had one man in mind.
On Wednesday morning at the Newton High library, Miller announced that the Tigers indeed pounced on his ideal candidate in former South Panola and Meridian High coach Ed Stanley.
"Having worked with coach Stanley in the past, and knowing what he can bring to the table, I just approached him last year in passing, and he said 'If the opportunity should arise, call me,'" Miller said Wednesday. "And it did. So I definitely called.
"I feel like the smartest athletic director in the whole country right now. We're so excited to get coach Stanley back in this community. We're excited that we can hopefully get this football program back where it used to be."
The destination for the Newton football program, which has experienced seven consecutive losing seasons, is a lofty goal: the state championship. But that was the gauntlet thrown down by both Miller and Stanley at Wednesday's press conference.
"I don't think we should sell ourselves short," Stanley said during his address to the players, fans and administration members in attendance. "I don't think there is any question coach (Crandal) Porter has won state championships with the guys and the girls, so I don't there is any question that we should sell ourselves short of a state championship goal in football here, also."
Miller, too, stated his excitement and goals for what Stanley's hiring could mean for the Tigers, who are coming off an 2-9 season in James Johnson's second year. Johnson went 7-15 in his two seasons at the helm of Newton.
"With coach Stanley here, we're now contenders for the 2A state championship, every year, automatically," Miller said in closing his introduction of Stanley, who comes to Newton after three years coaching at St. Martin.
Stanley, though, certainly brings state championship experience to the Tigers' program. In 16 years as a head coach, he has won one state championship and has finished state runners-up three times, accumulating an overall mark of 125-71-1. He also has been on three other staffs that reached the state championship game with one title in 1998 at South Panola. Stanley took over a 3-8 team at Meridian High in 2002 and within four years led the Wildcats to the Class 5A championship game, where they lost to South Panola. At St. Martin, where the Yellow Jackets have had just two non-losing seasons in the past 16 years, Stanley led them to within a tiebreaker of the Class 5A postseason this past year.
"You've got to understand from a coaching perspective, you just don't win state championships without that type of athlete," Stanley said. "That was very attractive to me and knowing coach Porter and talking to him, he's very, very supportive of me. And I'm going to be very, very supportive of him and we're just going to build a nice little team together and try to get every athlete we can to participate.
"Football is football, whether it's 2A or 5A. Coaches enjoy having good players to work with and good talent to work with, and so all those things combined, this is a great place to coach and teach."
Those athletes were certainly part of the attraction Stanley had about the Newton opening. But, he said it was the complete package that sold him.
"I got to know a little about Newton High through coach Miller, and he let me know how much he enjoyed it here," Stanley said. "He's also from Meridian and came here, and he felt like, we shared some talks about it, and he told me how much he enjoyed it.
"Then the opportunity came open, I came down and just fell in love with the place. Fell in love with the town and knowing that they've got some fine athletes here to work with, and then finding out how supportive the administration is, it's just almost like a little slice of heaven on earth."
Still, Stanley admitted he doesn't have any magic potion in getting those players from participating to winning. Rather, that will come after some hard work.
"Well, a lot of that will depend on how the goods buy into our program," Stanley said. "I mentioned the weight room needs to become our No. 1 friend and I think the talent is there — speed, athleticism, run, jump, catch, all of that — but we really need to make the weight room our No. 1 priority.
"It's a very physical game and you've just got to make sure that you're lifting those weight because the people that win state championships, they're very, very strong. I think we should be able to put together a football team with the talent we've got, and I hope our work ethic becomes second to none, and if that happens, the winning should take care of itself.
That would also help Miller achieve another goal — a boost in support of Newton High.
"I needed some help to get the morale back into the school system, and having a winning football program that can be the best boost for morale with that," he added. "So, coach Stanley can help me in that area."
And it could also lead to a vision Miller has about Stanley's tenure wrapping up at Newton.
"I think those coaches that coach at bigger schools they want to come back to a smaller scale where everyone in the community is involved and they can just ride off into the sunset as they retire," Miller said.
