By Shaun Szkolnik, sports editor
PINSON — Pinson Valley High School has achieved unbelievable athletic success. With back to back 6A state football championships and a 6A state basketball championship last year, this is a school that knows how to produce winners. Part of that success is Athletic Director and Football Head Coach Patrick Nix. He has a style that emphasizes fundamentals that go well beyond the football field; fundamentals that teach the young men on the team how to be great men on the gridiron and beyond.
Nix is excited about the upcoming season and is on the lookout for athletes that will really be coming into their own this year.
“(This is) just another year looking forward to the kids and seeing who develops,” said Nix. “Who does what, who is the surprise. You always have a few surprises during the year. You always have a few guys who have matured and grown up. When they were younger you didn’t know what they could do and all of a sudden, they grow up and end up being very good. Those kinds of things are always fun to watch and be a part of.”
The PVHS quarterback position has yet to be decided. There are two players vying for the spot. Each of them has significant strengths and are hard workers.
“We have two battling for the job: Barry White and Caleb Nix,” said Nix. “Both of them are good players. The battle will be interesting to see how long it goes. It might go into the season pretty good with both of them playing. I think that we’ve got two good quarterbacks that can get the job done.”
Nix enjoys his job and takes it seriously, but there may be aspects of it that are even more gratifying than winning state championships.
“(My favorite thing about the job is) being around the kids,” he said. “Building relationships and being with them. Without a doubt that is the most fun and gratifying part of the job.”
This attitude informs his approach to being a mentor for the athletes.
“Our biggest thing is we want to love the kids,” said Nix. “Everyone of them comes from a different background and situations and every kid is unique and we try to know that and realize that and treat them as being unique; at the same time loving them all the same, being with them, spending time with them. We try to do our best to live the example instead of telling the example. Live like we live and hopefully they see that, I think most of the time they see a lot more than they hear anyway. So, try to be a constant example for them and show them how its supposed to be done and be very consistent with our expectations and discipline and those kinds of things.”
For spectators and lovers of the sport of football, it can be difficult to process just how hard it is the players and coaches have to work to make the impossible seem effortless.
“I don’t think that many people realize how much work and time goes into being great,” Nix said. “I think that for most of our guys and coaches, it is a 24/7 365 thing, it is who you are all the time. You don’t get to just pick and choose to do this great or that great. If you’re great, you’re great, whether it is the best players or the best musicians or the best at anything. If you’re really going to be great at something, it has to be who they are all the time. That is the thing that we stress with our kids. You have to be great in the classroom, great at home doing the dishes, great on the field, great in the weight room. It takes a lot of effort. It has got to become a habit that you put in the effort and that you are the best you can be.”
Instilling the virtues of hard work and a heart of greatness in these young men requires a plan. Nix has that plan and uses it every day.
“Our big thing is we try and be organized,” he said. “Give them a good plan to go about every day. Whether it be in the weight room or conditioning or meetings or games. We try to make sure that we are detailed in what we do and give them a great plan, give them the opportunity to be successful every day and demand that they go out and do the things we’ve asked them to do. We’ve got great kids that work extremely hard and want to be successful. If we just point them in the right direction, for the most part, they do a great job of taking instruction and working to get there.”
With the success that PVHS football has had, there arises a question of whether it makes the upcoming season easier or more difficult. Nix has a steady and excellent view of how their position impacts the players.
“It makes it to where the guys understand what it took to get there and the efforts it took to get there,” Nix said. “A lot of them were young when this process first started and they saw how hard the older guys worked and how dedicated they were, how coachable they were and teachable and how unselfish they were. Without a doubt they were able to witness it and see it and see how it is done. That doesn’t make it any easier to do. You’ve still got to be willing to be unselfish and willing to work. Unfortunately, in today’s society those are things that aren’t too prevalent in what is being taught when you watch TV, or listen to this or that. It isn’t always about being unselfish and working hard … our guys have seen it work. Being able to see it and do it are two different things. We’ve got a great group of guys and a great group of coaches. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue to push in that direction and continue to be unselfish, to work together and work very hard to accomplish the goals that we have.”
