‘Attack the process.’ Meet the new head football coach at Shaw High School
The candidate selected as Shaw High School’s new head football coach already works in the Muscogee County School District — and is connected to the Raider program’s glory days.
Carver assistant coach Johnny Garner was introduced as Shaw’s next head coach during a news conference Thursday.
Garner played outside linebacker and strong safety for Northside High School, where he graduated in 2012, but his stepfather is former Shaw head coach Charles Flowers, who led the Raiders to an undefeated season and the program’s only state championship in 2000.
In 14 seasons under Flowers (1992-2005), the Raiders went 124-46 and won six region titles. Shaw’s football program has reached the state playoffs in only four of the past 14 seasons.
At Alabama State, Garner played linebacker. He started his coaching career in 2016 as a wide receivers coach for Northside. Since 2017, he has been at Carver, where he has been the wide receivers coach, strength and conditioning coordinator, assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator. He also served as junior varsity head coach.
Shaw athletics director Blair Harrison was the school’s interim head football coach last season, when the Raiders went 4-7 and lost in the first round of the state playoffs. Harrison was promoted in June from offensive coordinator coach after the death of Al Pellegrino. The Raiders went 16-34 under Pellegrino from 2017-21.
Gratitude for opportunity
On stage in the Shaw auditorium, Garner thanked God, his family, the Carver administration and former Northside coach Morgan Ingram, who gave him his first assistant coaching job. He also thanked the Shaw and MCSD administrations for this new opportunity.
“I look forward to gaining the trust and building this standard back to where it’s supposed to be,” he said. “That’s on top.”
Garner emphasized his initial focus will be on process instead of production —“the process that leads to the destination,” he said. “. . . Identity is one thing, but it takes work to gain that identity and to keep it.”
Then he addressed the student athletes seated in front of him.
“Everything starts in the classroom, fellas,” he said. “So you better believe, pursuing excellence in education is going to be everything that we’re going to be about. Understand that from the jump. I believe how you do anything is how you do everything. … Whether you’re disciplined enough to be in class, stay in class and stay on task, that’s going to tell me exactly how well you’re going to do the same on the football field.”
‘Attack the process’
Garner’s motto for the program will be “attack the process.” He again directed his comments to his players as he said, “We’re going to do the little things right. Sound good, fellas?”
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
After the news conference, Garner told reporters his “attack the process” theme will mean for his players “doing everything at the highest of your ability,” and for him and his assistant coaches, it will mean “making sure that we’re being great mentors for these student athletes and preparing them for life, post-graduation.”
Shaw principal Sureya Hendrick told the audience the coaching search “has been intense and extensive, but the committee feels that due diligence was rendered, and we have found the man that will bring back that old Raider spirit, Raider pride and Raider victories.”
The selection committee members were most impressed, Hendrick said, with Garner’s final statement during his interview. He showed them photos of “three great coaches,” she said: former Auburn head coach Guz Malzahn, now at Central Florida, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, and Maryland assistant coach Elijah Brooks. Those coaches were ages of 27-30 when they received their first head coaching job at a high school.
“The only difference between them and me is opportunity,” Garner, 28, told the committee.
Hendrick added, “Well, today, opportunity has now met time to produce a vision that will see the invisible and do the impossible.”
Despite naysayers who might thinks he is too young for this challenge, Garner expressed confidence he can be the leader this program needs.
“It’s my job to work,” he told reporters. “It’s not my job to try to sway the opinions of people. I’m going to put in the work, and they can form their own opinions.”
Selected among more than 60 candidates
Harrison, who was on the three-person selection committee along with Hendrick and an assistant principal, told the Ledger-Enquirer what impresses him about Garner among the more than 60 candidates who applied and six who were interviewed.
“He’s prepared, and he has a plan,” Harrison said. “… He’s from here. He understands Columbus. He’s coached in the environment. . . . He’s not somebody that’s been in a different system coming in and trying to make his way. He’s got connections. He’s got support. And, to be honest, he’s got an administration that really wants him to be successful.”
Harrison senses Garner’s age will be an asset for the program.
“You’ve got to have some energy to do this job,” he said. “… We need somebody with a full tank.”
Harrison noted, last season, Shaw trailed Bainbridge only 14-6 with two minutes left in the first half before losing 42-13, and Bainbridge went on to win two state playoff games.
“We can play,” he said. “But you have to learn how to play consistently every Friday night, every play, and we’re definitely not there.”
Shaw rising senior fullback Emanuel Mennefield, 17, told the L-E he likes hearing Garner stress the importance of academics.
“He’s going to be a great coach,” Mennefield said. “His standards are definitely Shaw spirit and pride. He’s going to turn the program into what Shaw used to be again.”
Mennefield also likes Garner’s “attack the process” mindset.
“We can’t expect anything big right now,” he said. “We have to trust the process, trust the new coach and his system and believe in it. Once we do that, the results will come.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2023 at 3:52 PM.
