“In order to take a program where you want, you have to have good players and you have to have good coaches,” first-year Chilton County High coach Brian Carter said Monday during practice.

The first part of that equation is easy enough to understand, and Carter offers an equally simple reason for the second part: “Good coaches make players better.”

For more pictures from Chilton County High’s practice, visit our Spotted site

The players were already there. Carter is high on his quarterback’s ability to pick up a new offense, his running back’s speed, his receivers’ willingness to block, his offensive line’s approach to practice, the competition in the secondary and the front seven in general.

So, after he was hired in the spring, Carter just needed some assistants. What Carter got was a group he said knows the game and is eager to pass that knowledge on to the players.

A couple of pieces to the puzzle were already in place. Chris Ford, who now works with the running backs, and Matt Maddox, the secondary coach, were both on the Tigers staff last season.

A couple more weren’t too far away. Receivers coach Josey Shannon was a middle school coach a year ago, and Deon Timmons came to Clanton from Billingsley, where he was an assistant football and head basketball coach.

Rounding out the staff is offensive line coach Kess Cottingham, who came to CCHS from Chelsea.

“I couldn’t be any happier with the guys we’ve got here,” Carter said and added that the players have reacted positively to the new staff. “This group of guys has responded to everything we’ve asked them to do.”

The Tigers will have an opportunity – albeit a limited one – to show what the new staff has taught them when CCHS competes in a preseason exhibition game Aug. 22 at Calera. The two varsity squads will play a half then the two junior varsity squads will play for about one quarter.