August 1, 2008
Big shoes to fill at Nitro
Sowards ready for debut season succeeding Tinsley
Charleston Gazette Staff writer
NITRO, W.Va. -- John Sowards looked
and sounded at ease Thursday afternoon even with the start of high school
football practice bearing down on him.
"I can't wait for the fourth of
August to get here so I don't have to do this other stuff that comes with the
job,'' said Sowards, who has been busy this week with housekeeping chores in
his Nitro High office. "I still have to find a computer.''
Sowards didn't have the look of a
man about to begin his first season as a head coach or of one following in the
shadow of an offensive guru. The 31-year-old Sowards was named the Wildcats'
head coach the last week of June replacing Scott Tinsley, who stepped down in
March to take over at WVU Tech.
Chip Ellis
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2008 -John Sowards was an
assistant at Nitro for six years before succeeding Scott Tinsley as the
Wildcats' head coach.
Tinsley, who had been the Nitro head
coach since 2002 and the offensive coordinator since 1995, turned the Wildcats
into an offensive machine that piled up points and yards at a record-setting
pace for more than a decade.
Nitro won the Class AAA state
championship in 1998 and finished runner-up in 2005. Last year, the Wildcats
lost in the quarterfinals to cross-river rival St. Albans.
Making the transition even more
difficult for Sowards is the fact Nitro loses its all-state pass-and-catch
combo of Michael Scott and Marcos Valentine to graduation. C.J. Crawford, who
is receiving attention from Division I schools, is expected to transfer from
Huntington for his senior season and play quarterback.
"My wife asked me, 'Are you
nervous?' '' said Sowards, who was an assistant at Nitro prior to becoming head
coach. "She's scared to death. She's worried about me. I could see where
if I was a new coach coming from another school, but I'm comfortable here. I'm
ready to go.''
Sowards already has half the battle
won by realizing he will never be able to replace Tinsley's acumen.
"He's one of the best football
minds I've ever met,'' Sowards said. "To replace him at the high school
level is just ludicrous. Hopefully, I can just keep up with the success he
had.''
Sowards, a graduate of Concord, has
taught at Nitro for eight years and was an assistant on Tinsley's staff for six
seasons before taking a sabbatical in 2006 for the birth of his son. This
summer, Sowards directed the Wildcats during 7-on-7 camps at WVU Tech and West
Virginia University.
Sowards credits Tinsley for
instilling the confidence that has allowed him to take on the monumental task
of running the program.
"He did a good job of letting
me coach whatever he needed,'' said Sowards, who has coached running backs,
linebackers, defensive line, secondary and wide receiver.
"He took me on [and] allowed me
to do what I thought was the best thing for the team. I've had my hand in
pretty much everything. I just tried to sponge everything I could get from him.
It's all about the kids, that's what he's instilled in me.''
Sowards does have some experience to
fall back on this season. John Painter was the offensive line coach last year
and Johnny Johnson has been teaching Tinsley's philosophies in the Nitro youth
league the past several seasons.
"I'll be calling the offense,
but I can't do what [Tinsley] does,'' Sowards readily admits. "I think I
have a staff in place that's knowledgeable enough where they'll help me to see
what [Tinsley] sees.
"We're going to call the
offense a little different [and] give some of the coaches a little more
responsibility. Scott really didn't rely on anyone offensively. He saw it all
[and] called it all. We're going to run an open offense, a lot of stuff
Tinsley's done before. We won't be able to do exactly what he did.''
Sowards said easing the transition
is the fact the coaching staff and most of the players will be going through
the same process. Nitro returns only three starters on offense and about a half
dozen on defense.
"We're all going to be learning
together,'' he said. "I've got C.J., but I don't know who the tailback is
going to be, I'm not sure who the wide receiver is going to be [or] the slots.
"I think it'll help us learning
it step by step. They'll ask questions which will remind me of stuff. It's just
a big learning process for everyone right now. Whether I'm here or Scott's here
it was going to be a difficult situation this year anyway.''
Sowards has managed to put his
stamp on the Wildcats in the short amount of time he has been in charge.
"When [the players] saw I was
going to be the head coach they said, 'Well, at least we'll be in shape,' ''
smiled the first-year coach.
"I had my linemen in here all
summer and they're getting a lot bigger and a lot stronger. We're going to be
bigger, stronger and in shape. Not that we weren't in the past, but more of a
concentration.''
Nitro's success under Tinsley didn't
come without its detractors. There were rumors of recruiting players from other
schools, and many saw Tinsley's prolific offense as nothing more than running
up the score on opponents.
"That's got to be
circling right now with C.J.,'' said Sowards of the recruiting rumors.
"I've never spoke to him directly until the three weeks in June. He's got
friends here. As a quarterback you're not going to go where Tinsley was. C.J.
is kind of like a gift from God.
"When it comes to running up
the score, Tinsley's philosophy was I'll score as much as I want but I won't
belittle you doing it. [He] put in second- and third-string defenders to give
you a little better chance of scoring so it would look better. I'm more
defensive minded. I don't like giving up points, but I'll pull my ones if it
gets out of hand to make it a little closer.''
Sowards said he thinks Nitro has a
chance to be successful this season.
"You never know until you see
who shows up,'' he said. "Over the summer I really liked the strides we
took. Everything was positive. They have a chance to be one of the better
teams. Now, whether they decide to do that or not it's up to them how hard they
want to work.
"I can only do so much. I think
we have a chance [to make the playoffs]. We just need to find the pieces to go
around [Crawford]. We have some players that can help him, but they're all
unknowns right now.''
Sort of like the Nitro coach.
Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at 348-4811
or tatkin@wvgazette.com.