Coach Parrish Named Head Football Coach!

Finally happened!  Yay for Josh!  He's definitely put in the work and he is so dedicated to those kids and the game of football, this is well deserved!  I know he will do great!!

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.
 

 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.”