Today's interviewee is Dublin coach Roger Holmes, whose team defeated Thomasville 55-45 last week in the Class AA semifinals. Dublin is in the finals for the first time since winning Class AA in 2006. What hasn't changed since then is Dublin's wing-T offense, which is averaging more than 400 yards rushing per game.
Roger Holmes, Dublin head coach
1. What does Dublin's return to the finals mean for the school and the town, and what has the local reaction been? "I think everybody is excited. I don't think there's any question about it. Our superintendent, Dr. Fred Williams, has done a phenomenal job for us in Dublin. He was actually my assistant head coach when I got to Dublin. [Holmes' first season with the Fighting Irish was 2002.] He's a football guy. And our new principal, Dr. JaRoy Stuckey, is a Dublin grad who played on a state championship basketball team here. They've been ultra-supportive. Our community support this year has been second to none in any years that we've been here. Our kids, we've got a senior-dominated football team, and I think they've continued each week to believe in themselves. And now all of a sudden, they've got a chance."
2. You won without attempting a pass last week, but that didn't hurt you any. It seems that fewer teams are running the wing-T offense. Is that a mistake? What's the viability of the wing-T today versus 10-20 years ago as more programs move to spread/pass-oriented offenses? "We actually called two passes. We had a penalty on one, a holding call, so that one didn't go down as a pass. I think we might've called one on the last play of the half and the quarterback pulled it down and ran. I'm trying to throw it, but all they want to do is run.
"Here's what I think: I've been a wing-T guy since 1976 [starting] as a high school football player. That's all I've ever done, all I've ever coached in. The thing is that this offense allows you the opportunity to adjust year to year to what your personnel can do. It's great when your system is quarterback-driven, but you can be a good wing-T team and not be quarterback-driven. If you're a spread team and you ain't got a pretty good quarterback, you're not going to be a good spread team. In several years, we've had quarterbacks who passed well. This year, we lost our starting quarterback in game two and transitioned into another quarterback, and he's doing a great job. It hasn't stopped our football team from being a good football team. The wing-T has been around a long time. New things come on the market, and the wing-T fades away, and then all of sudden, it starts growing up again.
"It doesn't always please the booster club or attract move-ins at quarterback, but at the end of the day, coaches have to run what they know how to make adjustments in. The wing-T is easier to mold year to year to what kind of football team you have."
3. Of course, not all wing-T offenses are averaging 400 yards rushing per game like yours. What are the reasons this particular Dublin team is so successful running its offense? "We've had three backs over 1,000 yards, and they were all there by the end of the regular season. We knew going in that we only had to replace one offensive lineman, so we felt our offensive line could be a strength of this football team. When people talk about balance, run-pass is the first thing that comes to mind. Our balance is that all three of those backs are averaging nine yards or more per carry, so it's hard to take away just one of them. If you do, that opens the door for other things in this offense. We've had nights where different wing backs have run for 200 yards. We've had nights where the fullback ran for 200 yards. I think our quarterback has 10 or 11 touchdowns rushing."
4. You've played Brooks County already. The state finals often have rematches of regular-season games, and lately, the loser of the first game more often wins the rematch. What challenges does Brooks County pose, not just physically, but psychologically/mentally? "Fortunately, I'm aware of that [trend in rematches] and very concerned about it. They were ahead of us 14 down there in the first half at their place this year, and we were able to come back and end up winning by 14 in the second half. They appear right now from watching them on film to just be playing with so much more energy and effort. Their team speed is phenomenal. Obviously Coach [Maurice] Freeman is doing a great job with those guys. We know we're going to have our hands full. We've been here for a while, and we know one thing - it doesn't matter when you're playing a team from Region 1 in AA. You better be ready to play fast, physical football. Brooks County exemplifies what Region 1 is all about."
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