H.S. FOOTBALL: Local support rising for Haywood, Hookfin

Steve Hookfin is coaching football in a new town, and things are different.

The former head coach at Liberty who led the Crusaders to two appearances in the state semifinals is preparing to start work in his first post-dead period portion of the offseason with his new team at Haywood.

Hookfin said there are different environments going from one school, which is one of seven high school football teams in town, to another that's the only school in the county.

"Every focus is on us, and that can be a good and bad thing," Hookfin said with a smirk.

Local interest is greater, so expectations are higher.

"I've developed relationships with politicians and administrators alike who are interested in the success of this program as much as anybody else in town," Hookfin said. "And when I talk to them, it's usually conversations like, 'Coach, we're hearing good things coming out of practice. Is there anything we can help you with? We want to see you win and want to do what we can to make that happen.'

"As a football coach, having conversations like that let me know I'm in a football town if I had any doubts coming in."

Just as the entire state of Tennessee is gathering excitement surrounding the UT football program after a positive end to the 2014 season, a similar phenomenon is taking place in Haywood County. Fans are hoping for a "right place, right time" situation unfolding as Hookfin, who was the 2013 All-West Tennessee Coach of the Year, inherits a quality group of athletes that should be in the mix for a playoff spot coming out of the new Region 7-4A if not competing for the region championship.

That would be an obvious step up from where the Tomcats have been the past few seasons. After five seasons with one playoff appearance and three coaches, the fans wearing purple demand immediate success, as shown by the dismissal of former coach Ernie Jackson after two years that included the playoff appearance.

The Tomcat basketball team's success with a state championship has caused the hunger for football success to grow as well.

Hookfin said now that he's in the fieldhouse at Haywood, his suspicions from competing with the Tomcats the last two years have been confirmed.

"When it comes to high school football — on a statewide level and not just West Tennessee — this is a sleeping giant ready to wake up," Hookfin said. "And I think that's why the fans are taking so much interest in it now.

"They've been craving this success now that they've gone a few years without it, and the personnel is there to do it. The question is can we put everything together to make it happen. That's my job and the job of this coaching staff: To make that happen."

The personnel is in place. Starting with defensive linemen Emmit Gooden, who has more interest from college programs requesting his services than Lebron James will from NBA franchises when free agency starts later this week, there are plenty of athletes with speed and power all over the field in purple.

Denarius Toliver, Jaleel Turner, Jalin Turner, Bo Gillespie and Rashad Brown are a few members of a large senior class that has one season to play under Hookfin.

"I told some of them the other day that I hate that we only have one year with that class, because it's a talented group," Hookfin said. "But the circumstances for us now are what they are.

"We're in a tough region in this new alignment, and we don't have a lot of time to become fully prepared for the teams we'll see every week."

Haywood has nine games on its game schedule with less than two months to go before the season starts, and Hookfin would still be interested in an opponent for Week 1 after Houston pulled out of opening the season in Brownsville.

Otherwise, the Tomcats have one non-region game against traditional rival Jackson Central-Merry before going through its region schedule against the likes of North Side, Lexington and Crockett County.

"We've got to be ready, and we've got to hit the ground running when we all get back from dead period," Hookfin said. "The guys have responded well so far, but unless the TSSAA has changed something, they don't hand out gold balls for football that happens in the spring.

"We've got to do something this fall, and that work begins in the summer."

Brandon Shields, 425-9751