This is the first installment of the 2012 Enterprise-Journal All-Area football team. Tuesday’s edition will unveil the 2012 Defensive Player of the Year
Mike Powell is a hard guy not to like.
The first-year Parklane Academy football coach says all the right things, is up front with his opinions and is the quintessential family man, putting his loved ones first before his playbook more times than not.
But that hardly means mediocrity is acceptable on his football field.
Most teams deem an 8-3 season as a successful one, especially in the first year of taking over a program.
Not Powell.
“8-3 and not making the playoffs, that’s not what we’re hear for,” Powell said. “It sounds good ... but that’s not what I’m interested in. I want to compete as high as we possibly can.”
That means state championships. And that also means beating the likes of Jackson Prep and Jackson Academy, which have historically had a stranglehold on the MAIS state title.
For now, though, Powell deserves some credit despite the high standards he sets for himself. Powell’s eight wins is the most since PA went 8-2 in 2000.
“Anytime you go from 5-6 to 8-3, most everyone in your program is extremely pleased with that,” Parklane headmaster Jack Henderson said.
But even Henderson agreed with Powell’s assessment of getting a playoff berth as the next goal. Parklane has only three playoff berths since 1995, with the latest coming in 2009.
“Even though we had such a great season, you can still see places, areas, things we can do to get better,” said Henderson, who was sold on Powell during Powell’s interview earlier this year. “We’re really proud of what Mike did.”
Powell, 34, graduated from Parklane in the 1990s when the Pioneers won a state championship. He returned home last winter when he was hired to replace former coach Bo Milton, who finished with a paltry 24-18 record in four seasons and later moved on to coach at Tri-County Academy.
It was Powell’s first head coaching job after spending seven seasons as Brookhaven’s offensive coordinator and time on the coaching staff at Franklinton, La.
So there Powell went, traveling down Interstate-55 with his family and his offensive playbook back to McComb.
“There is some added pressure, especially when you know a lot of folks and grew up with a lot of people that are close to you,” he said. “Obviously, I wanted to make everyone proud.”
Powell inherited a core group of seniors from Milton and several underclassmen, including Brady Lea, who became Powell’s starting quarterback.
The offense had its moments, but Powell quickly generated buzz around Parklane with a 7-1 start and a trip to playoffs in store. Presbyterian Christian School and Jackson Prep, both quality teams, derailed those hopes, but the general consensus around town is overwhelmingly in Powell’s favor.
“We all believe in Mike,” Henderson said. “We all believe in his abilities to lead our children. We all have confidence in what he’s doing.”
Lea will be back next season as a senior leader, along with the versatile Dan Gill and several offensive linemen. It certainly will make Powell’s job easier on offense after the players learned a new system that was completely different than Milton’s.
Milton preferred a downhill, power run game, while Powell brought in his spread shotgun offense that had a successful track record at Brookhaven.
“Now they’ve been in it … hopefully we can expand what we’re doing in the passing game and doing more things as far as being more complex,” Powell said.
The offense took time to develop over the course of the season, but the results showed otherwise. Parklane scored 30 or more points in 7 of 11 games and had a balanced attack with Lea and senior running backs Joseph Clark and Taylor Burt.
“We had a group of seniors that played a lot last year and they came in motivated,” Powell said. “We had guys riding bikes to summer workouts to try and get a little more conditioning in.”
The commitment from the players was there early on, something that doesn’t come easily for rookie coaches. Powell cited trust as an obstacle to overcome with his new players, and once that trust was established, the players truly bought in.
“ ‘This is your team, your shot. This is your legacy,’ ” said Powell, recalling what he told his seniors. “ ‘What are you going to leave behind? Are you satisfied with 5-6 or you do you want to make a run at this thing?’ ”
They chose the latter, and the Pioneers came within a win over Jackson Prep at making the playoffs. They also notched wins over Copiah Academy, Starkville Academy and East Rankin.
“I thought (East Rankin) was a huge game for our program and for our guys and the mentality of our players to be able to go up there … and (find) a way to win,” Powell said.
Powell has already noticed the rising seniors picking up the intensity for next season and hopes others follow suit.
It’s that mentality that can help put Parklane on the map with Prep and JA as title contenders, one goal that is at the top of Powell’s to-do list.
Although Powell ultimately didn’t make the playoffs or win a state championship, the one thing he did gain is added pressure.
The 8-3 season has set the bar extremely high for a young coach and should leave Parklane fans wanting more.
“I want that kind of pressure. It motivates me,” he said. “The team goes out and earns eight wins. … Now the challenge is how do we improve that? Eight wins is great, but how do we get to nine? How do we get to 10?”
