Panthers start learning system under new coach

mbrown@sunmulti.com

Only two weeks into the job as head football coach at Perry

High School and Erik Soliday is hitting the ground running with aims of

duplicating the kind of success he had leading another group of gridiron

Panthers a decade ago.

On May 14, the Houston County Board of Education approved

Soliday as the Perry athletic director and head football coach. That meant

Soliday, who was in his second stint as football coach at Turner County High,

only observed the latter days of spring practice. But Thursday was his first

full day of being in charge of the strength, conditioning and agility portion

of Perry’s summer training. 

“I like it,” said Soliday. “All I really got to do was see

the last two days of actual practice, but we have plenty of time this summer to

get a lot done.

“(The job) popped open late. When it opened up, all I had

ever heard about was that it was a good school. I knew it was a football-smart

community. Those are the kinds of things you look for, a good school and people

who care about their athletics. I saw it was a pretty good opportunity, so

let’s see what happens.”

A native of West Virginia, Soliday has spent his entire high

school coaching career in Georgia. It began at Turner County High in 1989.

“They had a really down program,” said Soliday. “It was in

bad shape, but we were able to get in turned around really quick. We had a

pretty good program there.”

In 1998, Soliday left Ashburn for Henry County High.

“I wanted to try the Atlanta area,” he said. “I found out

the Atlanta area just wasn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t care for that at all.”

So, in 1999, when Dan Ragle left Americus High on the heels

of state record setting quarterback Fabian Walker and future Florida State

Seminole Alonzo Jackson to coach at Ware County High, Soliday applied for and

earned his first Panthers coaching job. His second and third years on the job

resulted in Class AA state championships.

“We had really good football teams in Americus with some

great players,” said Soliday.

In 2004, Soliday saw that his first home, Turner County,

fell back on hard times. He took the offer to return to Ashburn. In a span of

four years (2005-08) the Rebels won 34 games.

“When this opportunity came about, I felt like it was a

great chance to try and build another program,” he said. “It’s fun to build a

program. All programs are different. Turner was really bad at the time.

“This program is not a bad program; it’s going to be

different. We are going to try to take that next step to not only get to the

playoffs, but win some playoff games. Our ultimate goal will be to win a state

championship. That’s what our expectation level’s going to be.”

The state title teams in Americus featured college

prospects, including tight end Leonard Pope, who starred at the University of

Georgia and has played for the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs of the

National Football League. Soliday had some of the nation’s top rated players

there, and it all worked together for a two-year record of 29-1.

“It was great for those kids, to work as hard as they did

and you get to see it pay off,” he said. “It was a life lesson a lot of them

got, that if you work hard good things will happen. That’s something you can

use the rest of your life. To see the expression on those kids’ faces when we

won made it all worthwhile.”

Perry High has made the state playoffs for three straight

seasons as a No. 4 region seed. Recent Panther football history includes a

record-setting season in 2007 and its own rising NFL star in cornerback Casey

Hayward. From that same senior class, linebacker Kanorris Davis started at Troy

University, led the team in tackles as a senior and recently signed as an

undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots. There is also Johnnie

Farms, a preseason All-American Athletic Conference (formerly Big East)

defensive lineman at Memphis who enters his senior season with 17.5 tackles for

lost yards and 4.5 quarterback sacks in his career.

“There are some fine athletes here, smart kids,” said

Soliday. “We just have to try to fit our system into what they can do, and take

parts of our system that fit our athletes here, and merge that thing together

and come up with what gives us our best chance to be competitive.

“I like what I saw in the spring. We obviously have a lot of

learning to do to get everything done in such short period of time.

“We’re kind of wide open, like to throw the ball around. We

don’t throw it as much as everybody thinks. We are going to run the football,

but we like to spread it out. Defensively we are going to be fairly aggressive,

stunt our linebackers and try to create plays that way.”

As for the Panthers themselves and how they handled the late

change, Soliday said it will be tougher on the older players.

“I never believed it takes three or four years to build a

program,” he said. “You can be competitive right away if you get the kids to

buy in. Those seniors know how to play; it’s just a matter of learning the new

system.

“There are some great looking kids in the (upcoming

sophomore) class. I got to meet with (the rising freshmen) one day, so I

haven’t had the chance to see them much. There’s a good number of them.”

Beginning this coming week, Soliday will work with the

Panthers three mornings a week to teach that new system and condition them

before official practice begins. He’s also been looking at film of future

opponents to get a good scouting report and head start on what to expect in

Region 2-AAAA.

“I think the sky’s the limit,” he said. “If these kids work

hard and buy in to what we are trying to do, there’s no limit to how good this

program can be. With the support, it can truly be a great program.”

Soliday applies that to all of the Perry programs he will

serve as athletic director. He’s met with the full staff and sees coaches in

all sports who care about the student-athletes, which meets his No. 1 criteria

in education.

“I’ll try to help everybody get what they need,” said

Soliday. “I’d like to see all of our programs win. I want everything about

Perry to be great.”

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