SCHS tabbed Mike Dickerson, a longtime assistant for the Owls program, as the school’s new head football coach.
Dickerson, most recently the Owls’ outside linebackers coach, has spent 18 years at Smith County after graduating from Cumberland University.
“I’ve been here for 18 years and 14 of those were with Coach Maynord,” Dickerson said. “He tought me most of what I know, and I look to keep things going the way they have been. There won’t be a lot of change, but I’m excited about my new position and I’m ready to get started.”
Of course, following Maynord, who is the Owls’ all-time winningest coach with a 179-81 record, is no easy task.
“Might be a little bit of pressure,” Dickerson said with a laugh.
The Owls do return a lot of key players in the approaching 2013 campaign, which should make the transition a bit easier on the new head coach.
“We have some really good returners,” Dickerson said. “We have Jalen Manning, Grant Williams and Austin Gregory. That will make our backfield pretty good. We have three returning offensive linemen.”
However, there will also be the tough task of trying to fill in some key needs.
“We need to find a quarterback,”?Dickerson said, “find some receivers, and we really lost a lot of people on the defensive side of the ball — three of our four secondary guys, both linebackers, a defensive front. The defensive side of the ball is where we’re really going to have to find some guys for this year.”
Still, with having nearly two decades of experience with the Owls program, Dickerson knows what direction to lead the team.
“I know what has worked for us for the last 14 years,” Dickerson said. “We’ve been averaging nine-and-a-half wins a year over that span. Coach Maynord has laid a good foundation and we have a good gameplan in place here. I see no reason to deviate from that because it works. It’s proven. It will be very similar to what it has been.”
