Daniel Merchant has a plan.
If you need any reassurance that Merchant’s strategy works, take a look at the success Merchant had in revitalizing the Oak Hill Academy football program and energizing the West Lowndes High School defense.
Merchant hopes that plan will pay the same dividends at his alma mater, Sulligent High School. Even though he was named the school’s new football coach in February, Merchant finished the 2014-15 school year in his position at the Lowndes County School District alternative school and started at Sulligent High in June. In a little more than three months, Merchant has tried to instill a new mind-set in the program by getting the players in the weight room.
That work paid off last week when Sulligent defeated Hatton 37-14 to give Merchant his first win at his old school.
“It was an awesome feeling,” Merchant said. “I am very excited for my guys. They have played hard for me for 12 quarters. I am very pleased.”
This week, Sulligent (1-2, 1-0 region) will try to build on that momentum when it plays host to Red Bay (3-0, 1-0) in an Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 2A, Region 8 matchup.
Merchant hasn’t been at his current job very long, but he knows the road to a region title likely will go through Red Bay. Phil Campbell, Tharptown, Cherokee, Hatton, and Mars Hill Bible also are in the region. To get to the top, Merchant said his goal has been to restore the physical toughness in the program, much like he did at Oak Hill Academy. He said the players have responded well to his attempts to build a “lasting program” that can withstand injuries and graduation losses. He said they responded in the summer by attending conditioning four days a week. He said the training that was designed to test their limits. The work included flipping tires that helped them realize the importance of using the weight room to get stronger.
“It really seems they are playing together and they seem like brothers,” Merchant said. “It is a close group here.”
Merchant took over for Dennis Robbins, a former assistant coach at Lafayette High in Mississippi, who guided the Blue Devils to a 6-5 finish and a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. Robbins was coach for most of the 2014 season before he left the team before the end of the season. Sulligent, which had won only nine games in the three seasons prior to Robbins’ arrival, lost to Randolph County 45-7 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs. Matthew Byars finished the season as the team’s interim coach.
Merchant feels his plan will need a year to take hold. From there, he is confident the Blue Devils will do things the right way and recapture some of the success the program has had on the field in recent years.
Former Smithville High coach Dwight Bowling led the Sulligent program from 2006-2010 before he was arrested in September 2010 in Mississippi. In June 2011, Bowling pleaded guilty to numerous Mississippi state court charges of luring teenage boys into having sex. Ronnie Hubbert led the Blue Devils to an 11-3 record and a trip to the third round of the AHSAA Class 2A playoffs in 2010. Scott Marchant, a former assistant and head football coach at Pickens County High, replaced Bowling and spent three seasons at the school.
Merchant served as defensive coordinator at West Lowndes High for the 2014 season. He led a defense that forced 38 turnovers and helped the Panthers (5-6) just miss out on a playoff berth. Merchant said he wasn’t fazed by the challenge of working at a school that hasn’t had stability in its football program in a number of years. That’s because he played for Steve Herron his freshman and sophomore seasons at Sulligent High. He also played for James Pharr his junior season and for Brian White, currently the defensive coordinator at Caledonia High, his senior season. He said someone told him Sulligent High has had 10 coaches in the past 16 years, but he said it is his goal to provide stability.
Merchant worked for two years as defensive coordinator at Columbus Christian School in Steens. He was part of a coaching staff that included head coach Shawn Gates and assistant coach Bubba Davis that helped lead the Rams to the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools playoffs in 2010. Merchant spent the spring of 2012 as a baseball coach at Nettleton High before leading the Oak Hill Academy football team for two seasons. Merchant went 11-12 and guided Oak Hill Academy to the MAIS Class AA playoffs in those two seasons. The back-to-back playoff appearances were the program’s first since the 1989-90 seasons. Oak Hill Academy was 0-10 in 2011 the year prior to Merchant’s arrival. Merchant was the Raiders’ fourth head coach in six seasons when he arrived. The program was 7-46 in the five years before he took over.
At Sulligent, Merchant credits his seniors for making his job easier. He praised senior fullback Caleb Williams and halfback Cordarius Metcalf for being a solid one-two punch. He said senior wide receiver Duston Summerville also has provided a spark and helped to keep everyone’s head up. On defense, Merchant said Jonas Brock and Williams have provided solid play.
“They have bought in and have done what I have asked,” Merchant said. “We are one or two plays away from being 3-0.
“I guess I am kind of surprised where we are and how hard we are playing and executing at times. I am very pleased with the effort we have brought so far.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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