In this episode of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast, Hannah and Jon talk with Norcross Head Coach Keith Maloof and Brooks County Head Coach Maurice Freeman about the changes and challenges coaches face today.  

 

Maurice Freeman and his sledgehammer

Inside this week's podcast:

 

  • Game of the Week: Peachtree Ridge at Norcross
  • The challenges of coaching in the modern era
  • High School Football Hall of Fame induction weekend
  • A chat with Norcross Head Coach Keith Maloof and Brooks County Head Coach Maurice Freeman
  • This week's games to watch

 

Jon Nelson: How has coaching changed for you from the first day that you walked in the door there at Norcross to now?

Norcross Head Coach Keith Maloof: high school football's probably still one of the most pure of things left, you know, athletically around them. And social media is jumping in on it, you know, and it's it's only natural. The kids see all the social media and it's you know, it's instant gratification, but that's not the way it is on a football field. And I think. Kids are expecting more instant gratification than because they're looking at all. This kid got an offer here. This kid got an offer here. Why don't I get offers or, you know, or you really can't believe a lot of these offers that are going on because some of them are just smoke and mirrors. But it's out there. And once it's out there, kids believe it or other people believe it. But in that respect, you've got to you got to tamp down the outside world a little bit and focus on your own world inside. And and I think we've got a lot of other distractions that we're having to deal with nowadays then we had to deal with back in the day when I started or when Dad was coaching, Kevin was coaching in their early careers. I think there's just a lot more distractions going on for the kids.

 

 

 

Jon Nelson: How has coaching changed since you came in as a head coach in 1994 there at Brooks County, won a state championship. How has it changed in 30 years since you started?

Brooks County Head Coach Maurice Freeman: NIL. All these guys that have personal trainers, uncles that get involved in it more, colleges offering kids as freshmen and sophomores, juniors offering them early, all these recruiting services. All of those things are taking a toll on high school sports. It is not the essence of sports and sportsmanship anymore. You having more problems with sportsmanship in games, more kids getting thrown out of games, more fights, more unsportsmanlike conduct because there are more people that are dabbling with these young people and kids are transferring from one school to another. You're losing traditions. Now, what traditions? If your parents went to Brooks, you went to Brooks, but now a kid, cases were kids, jump schools two and three and sometimes four times. And so you lose losing a lot more than that athlete. You're losing a tradition. And those things are extremely valuable. And I think along with that, you are losing. Those kids are not given the proper morals and values that that were taught years and years ago.