New Broughton football coach Tom McGuire on his unique connection to the players, vision for the program

Welcome back to high school. I’m Tom Mcguire, the new head coach at Broughton High School. You chose about the middle of last season. You were in the interim the second half of the season and then you get the full job this offseason, I guess, take us through that, that journey of becoming the interim and going through the process of hiring and now being the head coach, I mean, this, this whole year was wild ups and downs and a lot exciting things and a lot of tough times, and you know, I’m very proud of all the kids and the coaches and the parents and the first four games leading up to it, you know, we started off well, won the first two, dropped the next four and then came back and won three of the last four. three of our last five games. We went home for the first time in five years. We made the playoffs for the first time in five years, so this whole year was just a really wild ride and a lot of really memorable, great moments and then the season ended, but you know, there’s a lot to do and I just went like next season is coming back. And you know, I’m very thankful for my administration, athletic director, players, parents and coaches who all supported me, and I had to wait a little longer, but eventually I was named head coach. And it’s been a dream since I stopped playing in high school. It’s been a dream. So now we start after this off season, we’re ready to roll. Spectacular. The guys who will be promoted from within are already here on the staff. They usually have an advantage over other new head coaches. You already know all these players and all these players are coming. Do you see that as an advantage too? But is it also part of the kids knowing you, do you think you’ll get more of them just because of that? You know, it’s all, it’s all about relationships. I’m in a very unique situation where a lot of these kids that I’ve known since they were in sixth grade, because when I was in middle school at Oberlin, it was our big, big feeder school. And I’ve known a lot of these kids, our starting quarterback this year, I’ve been his head coach, six of the last seven years he’s played, but you know, and then obviously as a JV. coach a little bit, you know, help these current Varsian players, because it was two years ago. But you know, I think there’s definitely an advantage to that. Properly. Because the kids know that people know you, they know what they’re getting, they know what you stand for, you know, and there’s an easier flow or a smoother transition, probably, just building relationships. But that’s what it comes down to. And if I haven’t built relationships with kids in the last four or five years, however many years. Like maybe I’m not here. Properly. It’s an advantage, of course, but it’s all about what you do with that opportunity. So, last year, there were older people who led the way after Manning in particular. But the JV team was also pretty good at 73, which is exactly where we are now in April. How, how do you see the whole transition between those leading guys and the ones coming up this year? Yeah. So we lose a lot. You know, we’re going to lose some key players, Manny Lasso Mccallum, Wright Carl Harden, Wade Warren, Daniel Clements. The list goes on and on. Like we had a lot of senior contributors, but I think they did a really good job of paving the way forward. Properly. Setting the standard, setting the bar higher, where guys coming up as seniors come up as juniors in college so they know what we can achieve. This was also our best summer in the last four years. All in all, whether it was participation numbers in practice, whether it was intensity, whatever, it was the best summer overall and it meant we had the best year since I’ve been around. here and you know what? I’m trying to harp on them now, guys, imagine if we have the best full year and two years, we’re going to start building this, just where we can go, and you know, we’re really excited. Young guys coming up, JB had a great year last year to be proud of and probably could have had a couple more wins. So I’m really excited that we have a great group of sophomores, they’re a very unselfish group. They’re very intense, mentally, tough, physical, they just play really hard and they’re really fun to be around and watch. So I’m excited for them. But I think our upperclassmen and guys at Vars this year really paved the way for where we want to go in the future. Are there a couple of guys that the state needs to know about as future JV guys? They have a lot to prove. Everyone has a lot to prove. You know, the guys are on Mars this year. You know, we’re in a transition now. So things have to change and things will change and things have already changed for a lot of men. So it’s just about adapting to the sudden change and adapting and winning. They have to prove it and it’s too early to tell or give them credit until it’s due. But when it’s due, I have no problem giving them credit. You are an interesting conference. You have two really good programs. Carl Gibbs. What is your gauge of the conference going into this season? And what do you think? Do you use these two programs as a guide almost like something you can focus on, build yourself into, or do you see them as diametrically opposed. I mean, I got a lot of respect for all the coaches in our conference. I think we have, if not the second or third, toughest conference in the entire state. I mean, the skill is obviously the gauntlet, right? But you know, every year, yeah, Gibbons and Leesville are usually one and two, but 3456 is a crap shot. You know, it’s always really competitive, I mean, every game we play with Sanderson Athens, and they’re all competitive. You know, of course, we want to, you know, the goal every year is to win a conference championship and to do that, you just have to beat guys on your schedule and some of those teams have done really well. working for the last couple of years and, and building something, and you know, we’re just, that’s what we’re trying to do. We try, but everyone is different. You know, we’re not Cardinal Gibbons, we’re not Leesville, we’re not Athens, we’re not Sanderson, we’re not, you know, we’ve been brought in and our lineup is different. Our spaces are different. Our tradition is different. You know, obviously we take into account the things that the winning programs do, but we also want to be unique to ourselves and definitely play our guys in our schedule. What does your staff look like at the moment? Do you have everything filled out? We’re about, we’re about, uh, you know, at this point in the off-season, we’re pretty full. We have a new defensive coordinator this year, Chris Bates, who I’m excited about. He was our offensive line coach last year. He just joined the staff. You know, I’m bringing back most of the college coaches. They did a great job last year and really helped us get over the finish line with everything that was going on, and the JV transition and transition coach has done a great job the last two years. JB’s head coach and, you know, he’s part of the reason they’ve been so successful the last couple of years, he builds a really strong, physical, tough mentality. And unfortunately we’ve lost a couple of good guys, but that’s just the way in high school coaching that people move on and find better sessions or other things to do. But, you know, for the most part, we’re going to do similar things on offense. I thought what we did last year worked really well for us and what we’re trying to do and the defense looks a little different, but we have a lot of experience, you know, coming back and, um, you know, I could go through all the coaches, but those is about 15, for which I am very grateful to have such AJ V and university staff, but also a lot of cooperation. Do you finally understand what you want this to look like? Just personality wise, you know, a lot of history, a lot of fans that have been around for a while, they announced this this fall. What will it look like? personality wise? Well, it’s kind of too ball, you know, Coach Dawson, you know, before me, he laid the foundation, didn’t he. Our mission hasn’t changed. Our values ​​have not changed. Properly. Teach boys to become great young men, you know that in our lives through the game of football, that’s our mission that will never change. Properly. Work hard. Have fun. Take care of each other. Be a first class citizen. Never change. And they don’t need to change these things. Work for us and then, you know, moving on to us is more about doing your job, doing it with relentless effort, doing it for each other. And don’t be that guy. These are the things we follow and live by. And you know, I hope in the fall that we play nice, fast and physically aggressive. We’re not beating ourselves up and we’re still up. You know, it’s our last year, we lost another transfer and they were a great team and our kids played really hard. But at the end of the year, you know, you have your seniors who are upset, but they weren’t upset that we lost, they were more upset that it was over, right? So that kind of preaches about their experiences. And then you have the underclassmen who are upset but are like coach is coming back, coach. We’re going to, we’re going to get another one, a coach like hungry and hungry. Um. We’ve had 50-man downs in off-season workouts and 80-man highs throughout January so far. So the excitement is there, but the bar is high and the kids, you know, if you raise the bar, they’re going to reach it or not. And you know, we, we just want to keep going. It’s a goal coach. Appreciate the time. Good luck for the rest of the season from here. Sounds like you guys have good numbers and I’ll get things done and good luck this fall. Right? Thanks Joe. I appreciate the future man.