FOOTBALL FRIDAY: Pike Road adds coaches to staff
Defensive coordinator Corey Lee is the latest addition to the Pike Road football staff. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Pike Road coach Granger Shook still has a few assignments to hand out and hopes to hire another coach or two, but the bulk of the Patriots’ coaching staff was approved by the school board at its most recent monthly meeting.
Five new coaches were officially added to the six already on staff.
“There is going to be at least one more hire, but that won’t be until late June,” Shook said. “Hopefully, they’ll be two more hires.”
The new additions include both coordinators, Josh Thacker and Cory Lee. Both were coaches Shook knew from his time at Prattville High.
Thacker came to Prattville after serving as the head coach at Morgan Academy and was the co-offensive coordinator for the Lions under Caleb Ross. When Ross left for Troy, Thacker found employment at Demopolis High, where he served the past two years under Brian Seymore.
“Josh has head coaching experience so he knows a lot of the things I go through on a daily basis,” Shook said, “so he’s able to take some weight off my shoulders there. As far as Xs and Os, it’s going to be hard to find another guy who’s as quick on his feet and thinks outside the box like Josh does.
“Our players have responded extremely well to him. I’ve seen improvement each and every day Josh has been here on the offensive side, not just executing but how we practice. He had the number one (scoring) offense in 5A last year and as long as I’ve known Josh, his system has always been successful.”
Thacker continued to coach at Demopolis while the Patriots went through spring drills, so Shook said the summer work in seven-on-seven drills will provide some learning experiences for players on that side of the ball.
“His product on the field has always been one of the best in the state, if not the best at his level,” Shook said. “He’s been able to win at different levels, he’s been able to tweak his offensive philosophy and style based on the personnel. I expect our team to mature and grow as the year progresses.
“With Coach Thacker honoring his contract at Demopolis, he was very, very limited in what we did this spring so the offense is starting a little behind the defense.”
Lee, a former player at Prattville High, was the defensive coordinator at Pinson Valley before joining J.B. Wallace’s staff at Prattville in 2021 and 2022. He will coach linebackers at Pike Road in addition to coordinating the defense.
“Cory Lee and I have known each other for a long time,” Shook said. “Cory is a great get as well. The Lord has opened a lot of doors and Cory felt led to come over here. Cory’s a state championship defensive coordinator. He knows what it takes to meet high expectations and what it takes to win in 6A and 7A.”
And while Shook, a former linebacker, has some ideas on what he expects from a defensive unit, he’s quick to say the defensive alignment will be established by Lee.
“Cory will have ownership of what he does,” he said. “Those guys are very smart -- I want them to do what they believe in -- but there are some things we’re going to hold tried and true to. We’ll be multiple and tweak a coverage here and there to fit who we play.”
Another familiar assistant coach for Shook is Clinton Adams, who coached running backs for three years at Trinity under Shook and will continue in that same role at Pike Road.
“He was my running backs coach at Trinity but he did a lot more than that as far as helping with special teams,” Shook said. “He’s going to have a similar role here. I’m just going to lean on him to help Coach Thacker out. He did a great job of that on Friday nights at Trinity and he’s going to help in several different avenues here as well. He’s a very, very smart coach, relates well with the players.
“Clinton knows the offense, the style that I like. He knows how we run practice, game day operations, what we’re going to be doing before the players or the other staff members do. I’m just really excited to have him on staff.”
Shook added defensive backs coach Graylin Hodge to the staff, reuniting Hodge and Lee, who were together at Pinson Valley. This past season, Hodge was the co-defensive coordinator for Patrick Browning at Greenville High.
“Coach Hodge and Coach Lee worked together at Pinson Valley so they have a good working relationship,” Shook said. “Coach Hodge has been a defensive coordinator at a high level. He helped call it at Pinson, he’s called it at Greenville, he’s called it at Baldwin County. I’m excited to get another guy who has that experience on our staff.”
Shook also added wide receivers coach Quentavious Whitlow, a former player at LaFayette High and Huntingdon College who served this past season as offensive coordinator at Phenix City Intermediate.
“Not only is he very smart -- he’s going to be a math teacher for us -- but he’s a high-energy guy,” Shook said. “He has made a great impact with Coach (Stewart) Lowery in the weight room already and he’s going to make a great impact on the field. I’m excited to get Coach ‘Q.’ (Huntingdon) Coach (Mike) Turk sang his praises and if Coach Turk puts his name on somebody, that’s somebody I want to go get. He’s going to help with middle school and JV calling the plays.”
There are also five on the staff who were retained, along with recently hired strength and conditioning coach Stewart Lowery, a former strength coach at Huntingdon.
Offensive line coach Mike Atkins, who got his start years ago at Demopolis Academy helping his uncle, Hall of Fame coach Nolan Atkins, is a “great resource,” Shook said. Atkins served as the offensive line coach at Dothan High for 12 years and as the head coach at Houston County High for five years before joining the Pike Road staff in 2020.
Other coaches retained include receivers coach Josh Clark, outside linebackers coach Allen Maness, Doug Jones and Chris Boykin. In addition, Treyton McGough, a line coach for the middle school, will handle film duties and assist in other ways with the varsity.