2 minute read
Porum
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Larry Childers leads Porum in its first fall practice at midnight August 1.
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Longtime coach returns to place he once led to turn Porum around
By Mike Kays mkays@muskogeephoenix.com
Larry Childers is returning to the place of his first head coaching job back in 1982, hoping to give the Porum community something to smile about after just two seasons of four wins since 2014, and a 1-9 campaign a year ago.
“Some of my former players contacted me last spring and told me the job was open,” he said. “I was an assistant at Morris and went there one year and it was different. We had some wearing gold helmets, others wearing maroon helmets. Uniforms were mix and match, we didn’t look the same. Now you look around and that’s not the case, and they also have a nice stadium and bleachers since then.”
Now it’s about the quality of play, and Childers will hit his squad up with some changes toward that end.
“Every week we’ll have a new playbook,” said quarterback Seth Brown. “Coach is going to do everything he can to help us be a step ahead of every defense we go against. I think it’ll be one of the greatest learning experiences of my career.”
That’s the effort Childers brings. That’s also what he expects — an end to things like skipping practice and giving up easy.
“If I do my job right, which has to do with preparation and fundamentals, I think we’ve got a chance to win,” he said. “As a player, if you invest yourself in it, it’s harder to give up. If you play a game and play bad, if you don’t feel bad about it, you haven’t invested yourself.
“I expect them to lay it on the line. We want to represent Porum in a class way. We want people in the stadium. Just give us a chance, let us show
what we can do.” Braden Stinnett, a tailback and defensive lineman, has seen his coach’s determination. “I would say the biggest difference I’ve seen is the discipline,” he said. “We run a play now and if we mess up, we run it again until we perfect it, pretty much.” The 68-year-old S. Brown head coach had stops at several area schools — Hilldale, Warner, Checotah and Webbers Falls. He’s been out of coaching since Coalgate in 2016. This will be his 41st year. “Once you do this for so long, it’s part of life,” he said. “A lot of people might think it’s strange to see a 68-year-old man come out of retirement like this, but I was already teaching. I just added a little more extra-curricular activity.”
D. Brown Stinnett Franklin Chapman
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