This was copied from The Dothan Eagle
Josh Parrish promoted to head football coach at Daleville
Growing up, Josh Parrish watched his dad Harry Wayne Parrish lead
high school football teams during a hall of fame career that spanned
four decades.
Now, he has an opportunity to do the same.
Now, he has an opportunity to do the same.
Parrish, a Dothan native
who played high school ball for his dad at Early County (Ga.) in the
late 1990s, has been hired as the new head football coach at Daleville
High School. He replaces Brad McCoy, who resigned two weeks ago.
“ As a kid I grew up with
Northview and Early County football and being around my dad, I saw how
he changed lives (through coaching). That is what got me into coaching –
to be a positive impact on young adults,” the younger Parrish said
Tuesday night. “Now I get to do it as a head coach. It is something I
really dreamed about my whole life.”
Parrish takes over after
serving as Daleville’s defensive coordinator and strength and
conditioning coach the last three seasons. He will continue his role as
strength and conditioning coach while the head coach.
Prior to coming to
Daleville, Parrish was an assistant coach under Chip Harris and Wayne
White at Northview during a five-year stint, serving as offensive
coordinator one year. He coached at Daleville in 2004-05 when his dad
was head coach, the final coaching position of his father’s legendary
career.
“ Josh did our spring
training for us and he did a good job as I heard a lot of good things on
how he was running the program,” Daleville City Schools Superintendent
Andy Kelley said. “He has been with us two different times as an
assistant coach and we felt he was the right person for the job.
“ We thought it would be a
smooth transition as Josh has been on the staff and he knows the kids,
having worked with them in strength and conditioning classes.”
While Parrish doesn’t
have any previous head coaching experience, Kelley said his experience
overall of being around coaching, particularly with his dad, a member of
both the Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame and the
Wiregrass Hall of Fame, carried a lot of weight.
“ We had no reservation,”
Kelley said when asked about the lack of head coaching experience. “He
has been around it all his life as he was raised around it (coaching)
and around football. Obviously, Harry Wayne Parrish is a legendary hall
of fame coach and we feel some of it has rubbed off on Josh.
“ He has always wanted to
be a head coach and now he will get that opportunity. It was the right
place and right time for him and for Daleville.”
Interestingly, despite
his background, Parrish almost didn’t go into coaching. After playing
football, basketball and baseball at Early County and graduating from
the Blakely, Ga., school in 1998, he attended Troy University, playing
baseball for two years and obtaining a degree in pre-med. He soon
realized, though, his calling was in coaching.
“ I realized money wasn’t
everything, so I followed my heart as I knew I wanted to be a football
coach and I changed directions and got my masters in education,” Parrish
said. “It took getting away from it to realize sports is what I wanted
to do.”
Parrish said he doesn’t
plan too many changes as the new coach, believing the Warhawks were on
the right path under McCoy, who guided the program to a 34-19 record
with three playoff teams in five seasons.
“ It won’t be a lot
different as we won’t change a whole lot,” Parrish said. “Coach McCoy
did a good job and we will try to keep things rolling the same way. We
might change a few minor things on offense and defense.”
Parrish said having a strong defense is a major part of his philosophy.
“ Defensively you have
got to stop people to win championships, so I feel you have to put your
best athletes on defense,” Parrish said. “Offensively, I like to control
the football, control the clock and establish a running game. If people
start stopping that, then we will throw it, but my philosophy is to be a
run-first offense.”
He also said having sound “fundamentals” was also important to him.
Though his dad no longer coaches, Parrish admits his dad had a big impact on coaching – and still does.
“Football is ingrained in
my brain as he taught me about it my whole life,” Parrish said. “Every
night I still call him to try to get some wisdom from him.”
