Sean Harrison feels a little seasoning is going to serve him well in his new position as athletic director/football coach at Heritage Academy in Columbus.
Four years ago, Harrison interviewed for the position Heritage Academy ultimately filled with the hiring of Barrett Donahoe.
Donahoe’s decision in February to become headmaster at Marshall Academy, a Mississippi Association of Independent School member school in Holly Springs, paved the way for Harrison to apply for the position again.
This time, Harrison was the final pick.
“Like I told them, it was a good move to hire Barrett,” Harrison said. “There were some connections there and we went through the interview process and I got lucky. This is a well-established program that doesn’t need fixing. It just needs guiding, and I am proud I got the opportunity to be the guy.”
Harrison spent the past two seasons at Wayne Academy as athletic director and football coach. He guided Wayne Academy to an 0-10 record in his first season but a 5-6 record and a trip to the playoffs in his second season.
Donahoe, who is from Crystal Springs, replaced Brad Butler as football coach at Heritage Academy in 2012. He led the Patriots to a 25-23 record in four seasons, including a Class AAA, Division II state title in 2012. Heritage Academy beat Magnolia Heights 10-3 in the Class AAA, Division II title game to cap a season-ending five game winning streak.
Heritage Academy advanced to the playoffs in three of Donahoe’s four seasons as coach.
Born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Harrison, 29, grew up in Jackson and attended Jackson Academy, where he earned a scholarship to play football at Delta State. Harrison remained in the Delta and served as an assistant coach at Washington School for two years. He then worked at Greenville-Weston High School as offensive coordinator for two years and at Mississippi Delta Community College for two years. He worked at Pillow Academy for one year before moving to Wayne Academy.
Harrison and his wife, Brittney, who is from Greenwood, have a 3-year-old girl, Mills. He said it hasn’t been determined if his wife is going to be a teacher at Heritage Academy.
“The first time I came, I was 25 years old and I had only been coaching for four years,” Harrison said. “Gary Clark was the AD at the time, and coach Clark called me about it and I told him I would come interview. I thought about halfway through the interview, ‘I am not ready for this.’ Even though I got my feelings hurt that I didn’t get the job, if they had wanted to come interview I would have come. If they would have offered me the job I would have taken it.
“This is one of very few jobs in the state that you get the opportunity you don’t turn it down. Donahoe did such a good job that my hard is hard because I am learning how exactly how he did it to keep this thing rolling.”
Said he has “aggravated” Donahoe because he has talked to him so many times to ask questions. He said everything Donahoe told him has been true. He credits Donahoe for coming in four years ago and “straightened the ship, won a championship, and built a winning culture.”
Donahoe also left Harrison a blue loose-leaf binder to show Harrison how everything is done. There are about 25 typed pages from purchase orders, to sign sales, fees sheets, and scheduling.
Harrison said the workload he will face at Heritage Academy is different because he was in the process of building a similar structure at Wayne Academy. At Heritage Academy, he will have to deal with budgets, too. He also will serve as an assistant principal.
On the football field, Harrison said the kids come first. He admitted it sounds cliche, but his focus is on making his student-athletes better and to help prepare them for the next steps in their lives.
“The kids are my No. 1. The No. 2 is they are going to play disciplined and hard,” Harrison said. “We’re going to play fast. Everything we do we want to do quickly. You’re not going to see a huge change schematically in what they have been doing. We’re going to implement a little more of the tempo than they did last year, which I know he had done that in previous years. It is going to be different play calls and different names and run a little differently, but, at the core, they are going to know what is going on.”
Harrison has added Russ Whiteside to the football staff as his defensive coordinator. Harrison worked with Whiteside at Pillow Academy. He credited Bruce Branch for doing a great job with the defense last season, but he feels with his familiarity with Whiteside was an easy fit.
Whiteside also will coach the boys basketball team at Heritage Academy. He will replace Gary Harris.
Harrison said he will coach the quarterbacks and that he will call the plays on offense. He said he has watched a lot of film on the Patriots from last season and doesn’t anticipate changing a lot for the 2016 campaign.
“They are a talented team,” Harrison said. “They were young and inexperienced last year, but they are talented. The coaching staff did a great job because they were so young. They ran into a tough schedule. I am excited that they have gotten the breaking-in period over with and I get the seniors that are experienced. I have a little easier job than those guys had last year.”
Harrison’s first official day at Heritage Academy will be April 18. He anticipates bringing enthusiasm and plenty of lessons learned from his coaching stops. He credits coaches like Trent Lott for including him on every decision made when they worked together at three schools in the Delta. He understands there will be a transition moving from a Class AA to a Class AAA school, but he believes he the time he spent at Wayne Academy served him well and has set him up to continue to build on what Donahoe did at Heritage Academy.
“I was lucky that Wayne Academy gave a 27-year-old with no experience an opportunity,” Harrison said. “I will forever be grateful to those guys because I probably was the only the 0-10 coach in America that got a raise. They took care of me and they helped me. I learned more there than any other job I had.
“A step up or a step down? The size, the facilities, the support here is better, but you get down to it football is football. You still have to have 11 kids making a play no matter the level. This is one of the few jobs in the state that if it gets offered you’re lucky you got offered. I am really fortunate to be here, and very fortunate to have had my experience at Wayne Academy.
“I had to grow up in a real big hurry. I was lucky because in the beginning they were patient with me and allowed me to grow and to learn. Now I have gotten this opportunity because of it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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