Willie Binyard, Mount Zion (Jonesboro) head coach
Today’s interviewee is Mount Zion of Jonesboro coach Willie Binyard, whose team defeated 2023 Class 4A quarterfinalist and 34-point favorite Stephenson 20-14 last week. Binyard got the Mount Zion job in 2022, two months before the opener. His new team was on a 20-game losing streak, and it had been 13 years since Mount Zion won more than three games in a season. Mount Zion now stands 2-2 overall and 2-0 in Region 5-3A.
1. What was the story of the Stephenson game? How was your team able to pull of the victory? “We stopped the big plays. We had an opportunity to watch their games against Mays, Dutchtown and Decatur, and they like big runs. That’s what they do well, and we shut that down. They had maybe one explosive play, maybe 35 yards. We started the game running the ball and took the lead and then got away from that. In the third quarter, we came back to it. Their starting noseguard was out, and they had a sub in there, so we decided to attack that. For my players, a win against a powerhouse like Stephenson shows them they can compete if they do what they’re supposed to do.”
2. Why did you take the Mount Zion job? “I had a lot of mentors say don’t take it. It’s a losing program, you can get stuck there, and it can mess up your record. Coach Battles [Mount Zion athletic director Charles Battles] said he felt I could turn the program around because I’d been in Clayton County and worked with Coach Hackney [former Riverdale and North Clayton coach Rodney Hackney] for five years and Bull Jones [former Mount Zion, Dutchtown and Riverdale head coach Kevin Jones] for two years and Coach Herrod [former Riverdale coach Terry Herrod] for two years. Coach Battles talked me into it. But I always pride myself on development. I felt that if I could do my own weight room like Coach Hackney and have our kids running track like Coach Cobb [Napoleon Cobb, state-winning track coach and football assistant at Southwest DeKalb, Binyard’s alma mater], that we’d be OK. I’ve sponged a lot. I’ve been blessed to be around some legends.” [Binyard cited other influences, including high school football coaches Buck Godfrey and Fletcher Salter. Binyard left an abusive home as a teenager, and the two coaches each offered to take him in. Salter, who passed away in 2018 after more than 20 years at Southwest DeKalb, ultimately adopted Binyard.]
3. What was the state of the program when you arrived? “When I got here in the summer of 2022, there were 16 kids [in the summer program]. I didn’t get all my kids until school started. I started the season with maybe 40-something players, but a lot of those were freshmen and sophomores, and there wasn’t a JV program, so most of them were playing football in high school for the first time. A lot of players had left. I want to say at least 10 that played varsity the season before went to other schools. Robert Wright, who plays at Georgia Southern, he transferred. The weight room was horrible. I’d come from Woodland [in Stockbridge] and Riverdale, and I thought I can’t do anything with this. Coach Carson [Lovejoy coach Edgar Carson] gave me some stuff from his weight room. He was getting his weight room remodeled and let me get four or five racks and more free weights as well. Being in Clayton so long, I‘ve known Coach Carson for a long time. He said, ‘I know what you’re going through, take this.’ But I grew up in adversity. It’s nothing new to me. We make no excuses and keep moving.” [Mount Zion’s practice field is currently closed for remodeling. The team has to travel to Morrow High School to practice and shares a practice field with Morrow's band three days a week. There are days when the team is unable to start practice until after 5:30 p.m.]
4. How have you gotten the program to where it is, perhaps just one victory from a playoff berth? “We pride ourselves in getting kids that are supposed to come to us. We made sure to go to the middle school games and let them know we’re turning the program around and that you don’t have to wait to play if you’re really good as a freshman or sophomore. It’s also loving on the kids, showing them what we call tough love. That came from a book that I just finished called ‘The Power of a Positive Team’ that I got from Perry’s head coach [Kevin Smith] at a Nike Clinic. It’s about being honest and tough with players and coaches about why we’re not successful. This is not about singling people out disrespectfully, but how we can learn from mistakes to get better as a team. I go to clinics and I’m taking stuff from everybody that’s been successful and brought it into my staff and team. I’ve talked with Maurice Dixon at Creekside, Bowdon’s coach [Rich Fendley] on his strength program, Thomas County Central’s coach [Justin Rogers] on how his practice schedule is. I created our own set practice schedule based off of his, where we focus on getting as many reps as possible on both sides of the ball. I've learned a lot from reading different books. and ‘The Coffee Bean’ is another good one. That’s one that Dabo Swinney has talked about. We’ve still got a long way to go and a lot to prove. We’ve still got hard games coming up. If we do our part, we should make the playoffs.”
