Hardaway High School has a new head football coach after significant improvement in 2024
Hardaway High School has a new head football coach.
The news was announced Thursday during the “SportsVisions Morning Show” on 92.1 FM in Columbus as hosts DJ Jones and Thrift Barringer interviewed the Hawks’ new leader: Will Whilden.
Whilden, who has been an assistant coach on the Hardaway football staff, replaced Ryan McKenzie.
McKenzie was hired as head football coach at Pelham High School, a Class A program in Mitchell County, the Pelham City Schools announced Feb. 12 on its Facebook page.
Hardaway, which dropped from Class AAAA to Class AA before the 2024 season, hired McKenzie before the 2023 season from Class A Chattahoochee County, where he led the Panthers to a 5-6 record during his only season as the head coach there in 2022. The Hawks went 0-10 in 2023 and 4-6 in 2024 with McKenzie as their head coach
McKenzie’s predecessor at Hardaway was Corey Thompson, who guided the Hawks for two seasons: 6-5 in 2021, including a first-round state playoff loss, and 2-8 in 2022.
“We at Hardaway and MCSD wish Coach McKenzie the best of luck as he moves on,” Hardaway athletics director Kendall Mills told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Thursday. “He did an outstanding job within his two years at Hardaway High School.”
Asked why Hardaway hired Whilden as McKenzie’s successor, Mills said, “Principal (Maurdrice) McNeill and myself did an internal look at our football program and vision of the school. Within our search of possible candidates, we talked to several coaches in our building on the current staff. Coach Will Whilden fills the void and with his commitment to MCSD and Hardaway High School will continue to push our program in a positive direction.”
Who is Will Whilden
After graduating from Brookstone School in 2012, Whilden earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Columbus State University and became a social studies teacher.
This is Whilden’s first time as a head football coach. As an assistant coach, he spent three years at Calvary Christian School and one year at Kendrick High School, and he has been at Hardaway since 2021, where he began as an offensive line coach and was offensive coordinator last season.
“It’s been a dream to be head coach of a program,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer, “and I’m just really grateful for this opportunity.”
And to get such an opportunity in the city where he has lived most of his life, Whilden said, “I’m excited to really try to make this place something that everyone can be very proud of. … I’ve built a home here. I have great relationships with the faculty and with the administration here, and I can’t say enough about how supportive they are. Especially in this new role, they’re giving us all the tools we need to be successful.”
Whilden also believes the Hawks have the players to continue the program’s improvement. He noted more than half of last year’s starters are expected to return.
“Our kids are buying into what we’re trying to do,” he said. “In Coach McKenzie’s first year, we had a lot to change and a lot to fix, and I think we did that, but all the credit goes to our kids. … They come to work every day, and they get better, and they are seeing the fruits of their labor.”
It’s too early to specify the type of offense and defense Whilden will install, but he said, “I just want to build the type of program that attracts talent, that rivals anything in the city.”
Then he emphasized Hardaway football will be about more than the program’s win-loss record.
“The biggest thing is that we’re here to help our kids, to develop our kids, not only for the game of football but for life,” he said.
Shaw High School athletics director Blair Harrison was Brookstone’s head football coach all four years while Whilden played offensive tackle and defensive tackle for the Cougars.
“Will was voted captain and was a great leader and teammate,” Harrison told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “He was also a pleasure to coach.”
Harrison is confident Whilden “will do a great job” as Hardaway’s head football coach.
“He is loyal, hardworking and has a family around him that understands hard work and what it looks like,” Harrison wrote. “Will has come up the right way and is ready for this challenge. I will be pulling for him in all his games, but one!”
Why Ryan McKenzie is leaving Hardaway
McKenzie told the Ledger-Enquirer his departure from Hardaway’s football program “was a mutual decision between me and the administration. They supported me in the process of other people inquiring about me. … So we just decided that it was OK for me to part ways and for me to seek other opportunities. They gave me their blessing on that, and I’m forever grateful for the opportunity and forever thankful for them.”
Describing himself as “not a city boy,” McKenzie said he applied for the Pelham job because it’s a small town with one high school, where he can be involved in developing players in youth football and middle school.
McKenzie, a history teacher and Montezuma native, said he also was attracted to this position because the administration would help him gain skills to eventually become a superintendent.
“They’re going to allow me to grow in the profession,” he said. “… They want to invest in me and put me around some people that will help me in the aspect of coaching and being an administrator one day.”
McKenzie was impressed with Pelham when his ChattCo team played there.
“They have unbelievable facilities,” he said. “… I remember the athletes and the type of kids they had.”
In fact, McKenzie interviewed for the head coaching job at Pelham before Hardaway hired him.
“The assistant superintendent remembered me when the job came open this time,” McKenzie said. “He gave me a call and asked me to come down there to talk. It’s a life-changing opportunity for my family.”
McKenzie will continue to be a history teacher — and add athletics director to his duties — when he starts working March 3 at Pelham.
“So I’ll be able to impact the whole student body,” he said.
McKenzie leaves the Hawks with faith in the program’s ability to keep improving.
“I had a tremendous staff at Hardaway, and there are guys that I know can step up,” he said. “. . . A wise man once told me, ‘You’ve got to know when to exit the race and when to continue to run,’ and I’m OK with passing the baton to Coach Will.
“He’s a Hardaway guy now. He was here when I got here, and he’s learned a lot, and I think he’s going to do a phenomenal job. That made it easier for me to make this decision because I knew that he would be a great guy to continue what we were doing. … I’m wishing them nothing but the best.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 9:26 AM.
