Dr. Kristopher Williams finally had the opportunity to sit in his office as the new athletic director at Alcovy High School on Monday after officially starting the previous Wednesday.
After working at Liberty Middle School, Dr. Williams will now take over for former AD Gabe Burnette, who is now at Cousins Middle School. Dr. Williams said that based on his short time as the Alcovy AD that everything ran well, and the only glaring issue on paper was the men’s basketball program.
“At this point, I believe the [new boys basketball coach] that has been put in place, he’s come in, he’s started working with the kids almost immediately,” Dr. Williams said. “What he has put in as far as his summer program, having different things for the kids to work on, I believe that he is going to have an effective, positive impact on the male basketball program. So hopefully we can go ahead and get that returned back to prominence, because we do have the talent. Now we have someone in that position that can instill that discipline in those students and that can go ahead and preach their philosophy and get the most out of their students.”
Alcovy’s boys basketball program has endured a lot of trepidation the past few years, as they’ve went through coaches like a Kardashian goes through athletes (that means a lot). Dr. Williams believes that the new men's basketball coach is the right man for the job, and that he will be able to – along with the other coaches at Alcovy – instill the discipline in the children that Williams wants to see.
“If a coach can get their players to [be] disciplined and give effort, then the execution will come. Once the execution takes place then you’ll see success in terms of wins, in terms of kids being celebrated with different awards; whether it’s from the region, whether it’s from the state, [or if it’s] a scholarship,” Williams said. “Pretty much that’s my overall vision, just to make sure that the coaches instill that discipline and effort. With those two things everything else will [come].”
“If your team is not disciplined then obviously whatever message you’re trying to relay, whatever concepts you’re trying to get over to your team, that won’t come to fruition. Second, I need effort. If you give me 110 percent then positive things will happen.”
Dr. Williams seemed excited to get started, although he hasn’t had the opportunity to speak with all of his coaches just yet. He wants to build Alcovy into a premiere high school.
“Obviously you want to have a special program. Just to make sure that we have good parent involvement, that the community comes out and supports the program. I want to sell out every game if possible,” Dr. Williams said. “To have that positive energy from the community sometimes, just to have that backing is just something to rally around. [My goal] ultimately is just to have great students, great athletes combining for the concept of student-athletes. [I want to see them] do well academically, do well athletically and just use it as a vehicle and as a tool to get to that next level regardless of whatever that may be. Whether it’s college, whether it’s going to the military, whether it’s going on someone’s work site, just use these tools and these tips to further your life.”
