If you were to ask me to describe Coach Benji Harrison in one word I would have to say “impossible.” It is impossible to describe this man in just one word. He’s young, energetic, enthusiastic and ready to tackle the challenge that lies ahead of him as Habersham Central High School’s new head football coach.
I recently sat down with Coach Harrison to find out what makes him tick and to get his take on the challenge ahead. Every answer he gave had a similar phrase, “I want to let these kids know that I care about them.” Coach Harrison said those words countless times and it’s clear that he means them.
Harrison, a former standout athlete at Stephens County High, left his job as the head coach at Jackson County Comprehensive High School in Jefferson in January to join Raider nation. He’d been at JCCHS since 2012 and in that time led Jackson County to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2012-2013, the first consecutive playoff bids for the Panthers since 1986-1987. Jackson County finished 6-5 in Harrison’s first season as head coach, its first winning record since going 8-2 under Don Golden in 1992.
He turned things around for the Panthers and the Raiders are counting on him to do the same here.
How will he do it?
That’s the question many are asking. Coach Harrison’s answer is quick and straightforward, “The first thing I am going to do is build a relationship with these kids.” He insists relationship building is essential to earning his players’ trust in him as a leader: It’s the foundation upon which the rest of the HCHS football program will be built. Building on that foundation will require skill, talent and, above all, “hard work.” Harrison says he has all the faith in the world in his guys, but he wants for them to be there for each other, the coaches and the community.
“This place had a lot of tradition, and still does,” Harrison says. Part of that tradition is to “do right.” Harrison says his goal is for his players to be the best in the school. He wants teachers and people in the community to get excited when they see a football player coming, knowing that player not only suits up on Friday but also shows up every other day of the week to do his best at whatever task is at hand. Harrison is working to instill in his new team a mindset to “not let anybody outwork them.”
That’s a high calling and the HCHS Raiders certainly have their work cut out for them. The team has won only one game in the past two seasons but that isn’t what Harrison is focusing on. He’s focused on the team’s hunger – and the community’s demand – for a winning season. “The plan is to be successful this year,” he says confidently. While he won’t put a number to that, he does say his number one goal for the Habersham Raiders is to make the playoffs this season. Period.
Character counts
When the Habersham County Board of Education hired Harrison back in February one thing that was repeatedly mentioned was his character. HCHS Athletic Director Geep Cunningham knows it well, he’s watched Harrison mature as a player and coach through the years. Benji Harrison was a quarterback at Stephens County High School when Cunningham coached basketball there in the mid-1990s. Upon Harrison’s hiring Cunningham told Now Habersham, “We turned over every stone there was in looking and I think we’ve got a great young man, a great family guy, impeccable moral standards, along with a very good football coach.” Cunningham describes the Raiders’ new head coach as “solid, very responsible, Christian, morally strong, (a) hard worker (with) great ethics.” He says, “I think he’ll make our community proud. I think he’ll make our school proud.”
Brock Bennett interviewed HCHS Athletic Director Geep Cunningham after Harrison was hired
With his deep roots in Stephens County, Habersham’s almost like coming home. In fact, Harrison says he intends to make Habersham his home for the long haul. “I was talking with my wife last night because we are looking for houses. ‘We better pick the right one,’ I told her, ‘because I plan on being in there for a long time.'”
That’s good news to the ears of anyone with their eye on Raider football.
Regions and resignations
The last winning head coach at Habersham Central was Gene Cathcart. He took the job in 2003 and in six years turned Habersham football into a regional powerhouse. Anyone who was around Habersham County and cared even a whit about football back then will tell you those were the glory days. Cathcart’s Raiders posted a 40-27 record with three playoff appearances. They won two Region 8-AAAA titles and had two Class AAAA quarterfinal appearances. Cathcart was named 8-AAAA coach of the year three times.
Then, things changed.
Cathcart resigned in 2009 to take over the football program at Greenwood High in South Carolina. He was succeeded by Stuart Cunningham, an HCHS alum, who carried the team to a Class AAAA playoff appearance in 2011.
There was hope, then, more change…BIG change.
In 2012 the Raiders were moved up to Region 7-AAAAAA (regions are assigned based on a high school’s student population). That completely altered the local football landscape. The Raiders struggled to compete against their Gwinnett County-based region rivals who had far greater resources and larger player talent pools from which to choose. The Raiders ended the 2012 season 1-9, Cunningham resigned and the team’s slide continued.
Michael Pollock took over as Raider head football coach in March 2013. The team was shut out his first season. In December of that year the Georgia High School Association agreed to bump down Habersham Central from Region 7-AAAAAA to Region 6-AAAAAA for the 2014-2016 school years. Moving to the Forsyth County/north Fulton County-based region helped the Raiders slightly. They won their first game in twenty in a home game against the North Forsyth Raiders last Halloween. Pollock resigned two weeks later.
Enter Benji Harrison
It takes an ambitious coach to take over a program in a tail spin and it’s obvious Benji Harrison fits the bill. He was selected from among more than 90 coaches who applied for the job. During the school board meeting on Feb. 9, 2015 when Harrision was hired, Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper said he was struck by Harrision’s attitude when he interviewed with him. “He wants to make immediate progress. He didn’t come in here talking about what we can do two years from now, three years from now, he talked about what we can do right now,” Cooper said.
HCHS Athletic Director Geep Cunningham talks about the importance of hiring the right coach and why Benji Harrison fits the bill.
It’s Coach Harrison’s experience, confidence, determination and character that Habersham County now pins its hopes on; a community looks to him for a return to ‘the glory days.’ Whether that happens or not has yet to be seen but one thing already is clear, Coach Benji Harrison is up for the challenge. He’s ready to tackle the Raider turnaround and he’s buying a house he and his wife, Thomasyne, and their two daughters can live in for many years to come.
