High School Football No. 11: Heritage coach Doug Smith hopes coaching staff has the right mix

Upon taking over as Heritage’s head coach last spring, Doug Smith’s first order of business was to assemble a staff that would help him maximize the potential of the Pioneers’ returning and upcoming players.

He retained several of the assistants who worked under outgoing coach Chris Jones — including Mickey Paige, Ed Landis, Herman Calloway, Link Thompson and George Highsmith — and invited back others who had served with him in the past, such as Jeff Pultz, Paul Johnson and Jeff Tomlin.

“These guys, I think, have got the best coaching staff in the state,” Smith said, referring to the players and his assistants, respectively.

“We know each other and work well together,” said Johnson, who returns as quarterbacks coach after coaching Heritage’s baseball team the past three springs.

Smith also brought in former NFL player Benny Snipe, the running backs coach, who, like Pultz, employs drill-sergeant tactics in motivating players.

The myriad coaching styles mesh well for the most part, just like the personalities of the players themselves.

“Everybody has that passion for the game and when you have people who are passionate about something coming together, it’s (positive),” said former Heritage and Liberty University wide receiver L.G. Parrish, who working with the receivers.

“You’ve got the vein-popping guys and then you’ve got the guys who are kind of a little more laid back,” Johnson added. “Everybody’s not vein-popping guys. Pultz is a vein-popping guy. I’m not a vein-popping guy.”

Smith convinced Pultz to come out of retirement to coach special teams, as he had for 28 seasons previously.

“Our special teams are going to be incredible for the work he’s been putting in,” Smith said, noting Pultz also will serve as defensive line coach. “He’s done everything on defense and always had his hand in special teams. That’s his love. I just wanted to bring him back so he could work with special teams. Special teams is his baby.”

Pultz believes special teams are a huge part of the game that is sometimes overlooked.

“It’s only good if you work on it and a lot of coaches get pushed on time, (focusing) on defense and offense, and where they cut is special teams,” he said. “(Smith) gives us the time to work on it. Sometimes that’s a challenge (because you’re) taking away offensive and defensive time. You’d better be good at it because we’re spending a lot of time on it.”

Like himself, several of Smith’s staff played football at Liberty University, including All-Americans Landis, Paige and Johnson, who played quarterback in the late 1980s, and Parrish, one of his top receivers.

Landis, who coached Paige at both Rustburg and LU and now serves as Smith’s assistant offensive coordinator, has head coaching experience at Jefferson Forest and E.C. Glass, his alma mater.

Many of the newcomers on staff are volunteers. They’re in it for the experience or, in the case of Parrish, a Heritage graduate, to keep an eye on his son, Javonte, a freshman running back.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys that help coach,” Smith said. “They’re excited about it and their commitment is incredible. We have 17 coaches on staff and I think there’s only 10 (paid) coaching positions, but all of them are coaching like they’re paid $10,000.”

Champ Ducio, a recent LU grad, is coaching the defensive backs and seeing the fruits of his labor.

“This defensive back group, you watch, they’re going to be mentally ready,” he said. “I think with the mindset that we have, and the expectations that we have, we’ll be successful. I have a saying, ‘You work hard now, it’ll prevent us from breaking later.’ These guys work so hard. We’re not done after practice. We keep going.”

That kind of work ethic is exemplified by Smith.

“It starts with him,” Pultz said. “(He’s) unbelievable. He’s probably the only coach to ever out-work me. He leads by example, there’s no question about that. Almost, he doesn’t delegate enough because, well after we leave, he’s still here, and well before we come in, he’s here.”

Pultz said Smith has spread the wealth of coaching experience around between the varsity, JV and freshman staffs, building a solid foundation from the ground up.

He said assigning Tomlin, an exceptional lineman at Heritage and later Virginia, to coach the Pioneers’ JV team and coordinate the ninth-grade class was a brilliant move.

“Jeff’s as good as any of the varsity coaches, but he’s going to be coaching the younger kids,” Pultz said. “Doug wants to do it so all the different levels have good coaches working with them. I figure (that) will make us a better staff, way better.”

Calloway, the Pioneers’ defensive coordinator, brought coaching credentials from Amherst, where he helped coach back-to-back state champions in 2006 and 2007.

“He’s a good coach, very competitive,” senior outside linebacker Sylvon Jones said. “He expects the best out of us. Every practice, he expects us to work hard.”

Jones, who specialized in basketball as a junior before coming back out for football this summer, has noticed a change.

“It’s a different outlook,” he said. “The coaches seem like they care about us more and it seems like they’re more dedicated. They’re showing us that it’s not only about football. It’s about how you act as a character on and off the field.”

Tony Tucker, Heritage’s athletic trainer who added the title of strength coordinator earlier this year, working with Landis and Smith, has seen a shift in attitude.

“These kids are excited about playing again,” Tucker said. “That’s the key.”

“I’m really excited,” Jones added. “I feel like we can be a good team. Over the summer, we’ve been working hard, busting our tails off. I feel like we’ve been working harder than anybody else in the Seminole District. We’re underdogs, so we’ve got to work harder than everybody else does.”

Besides his staff, Smith credits the Play It Smart program, and Heritage academic coach Maggie Davis.

“Play it Smart works right into what we’re all about,” he said. “(We want) to get these kids to be great students, learn commitment, learn responsibility, learn work and dedication and then football will take care of itself.”