Chris Cox covers high school sports and tennis in Beaufort County. | Hilton Head Christian formally announced its new head football coach early Wednesday morning, bringing on East Chapel Hill High School offensive coordinator Ryan Mitch. You can read our story on his hiring here.
Here are some quotes from Mitch that didn’t make it into the story...
On continuing the winning tradition established at Hilton Head Christian:
Going to DeMatha, the high school I went to, it was (a place where) if you lose a game, the season is a failure. It’s kind of unrealistic expecation, but it’s how I work best. I work best under pressure, I work best when basically you gave to win and winning is the only option. That’s kind of what appealed to the job. Where I’m coaching right now, they have never been to the 4-A playoffs ... we won five games this year and everyone was satisfied. A bunch of the coaches from winning backgrounds and winning programs were like, ‘Guys, this isn’t it. This isn’t the goal, to go .500 and get blown out in the first round of the playoffs. There needs to be something more.’”
On how persistence and detail during the application process ultimately landed him the job:
I think the persistence really did pay off because I would email, follow back with a call and then another email. ... It showed that I’m a guy who no matter what it is, is willing to work hard for something and willing to put myself out there to get it. Like coach (Kenny) Conroy told me, he’s a basketball coach, he’s got a daily practice plan scripted down to 10 minutes.”
“That’s how I am. I’m a very detail-oriented person. Between the resume and letter of interest, I was also sending out stuff I would implement and things that I worked on, like what the coaches handbook would look like, what I expect of myself and what I would bring to the table, what I expect from the assistant coaches and the player’s handbook, kind of a code of conduct. What they would do from everything on what we wear on practice during a Thursday walkthrough and how we take the field. I think it definitely showed them that I was someone that was going to come in there and work hard to be really detail-oriented and really cared about the job and wasn’t just looking for a job.”
What will your offense look like?
We’ll basically run four and five wide (receiver sets). We’ll be mainly four wide and we’re going to throw it around a bunch using screens and a short passing game. We’ll have some tricks up our sleeve every now and then. The biggest change is going to be running a little bit of what the 49ers and Redskins run, a little read-option, a little pistol. Some new stuff that’s just coming out there. I’ve used it in a way in certain games where it’s worked pretty well. Looking at some of the games from last year, I think it’s something we can take into the season and be pretty successful with.”
When will you talk to players and coaches?
”That’s what I’m getting down there on Friday to do, to talk to the guys and talk to whatever staff is down there. ... They had a couple candidates in mind that could come in and teach at the school and also run the defense. I also want to have my hand a little bit in that. I also want my assistants to have their hand in the offense. I want everyone to work on certain things, obviously have their specialties with what they’re good at. If you’re a coach at the high school level, it gives you the opportunity to learn things. If you’re at the college level as a quarterbacks coach, you’re basically with the quarterback and that’s it. I want to make the coaches feel involved and myself as well, just put your hands into everything and do the dirty work.”
More on his stint with East Chapel Hill High, where he helped lead the Wildcats to their first playoff berth in program history:
“This past year and the past couple years, I’ve been running an offense that was developed by (Wilcats coach) Bill Renner, it’s kind of a wide-open passing game. It’s kind of one of the weaker points, because we haven’t had a strong running back. Basically I’ve switched up some of the running stuff to suit what I like to do a little bit better.”