The Attala County school board officially hired Dave McCrory last week as the new head football coach at Ethel.
McCrory comes to Ethel after serving as the offensive line coach at Northeast Jones. McCrory said he was not looking to leave Northeast Jones, but the opportunity just presented itself.
“I was at the state powerlifting meet a few weeks ago and ran into the principal and asked him about the situation,” McCrory said. “I told him, it’s home for me. I didn’t go to school at Ethel, but most all of my relatives are from Attala County. I wanted to get back home. We still have a house in Four Corners. I really liked my job at Northeast Jones and wouldn’t have left if I didn’t feel like it was a really good situation.”
McCrory started his career at Kosciusko and was an assistant for the Whippets from 2007 to 2012. After one year at Charleston, McCrory served as the defensive coordinator at Bay Springs and then served as the offensive line coach at Northeast Jones.
McCrory inherits a program that has lost 14 games in a row and went 0-11 last year and was outscored 69-500.
“I’m extremely excited,” McCrory said. “I know the program has been down for a long time now. But I feel like these are the kind of kids and community where you can win. These are rural, hard-working people. Most of the people at Ethel grew up in Ethel and have lived there all of their life. They make their kids go to school every day. I think it’s a lot like Northeast Jones and you can win football games with kids like that.”
McCrory was introduced to the players on Wednesday and also spent part of the day recruiting players. McCrory realizes he has his work cut out for him.
“The game plan is to get as many kids involved as I can,” McCrory said. “For a 1A school, Ethel has always had good numbers. It’s going to fun and going to be full of energy. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of energy and a lot of people buying into what we are trying to do.
“I want to instill a competitive culture. We are going to compete at whatever we do. I think that might have been lacking in the past. I think if we can develop competition among the kids, they will rise up. They want to compete against other people and show how good they are.”
McCrory said he would spend the next few weeks moving and preparing for summer weightlifting. He said he’s also looking for some 7-on-7 opportunities.
“I really want to help our kids be blue-collar kids,” McCrory said. “We are going to outwork people and compete, compete. As far as the community and the parents, if they will let me coach their kids, I will make them better young men and better football players. I want what’s best for the kids. I’m going to put the kids in the best position for them to succeed.”
