By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A former Copperas Cove Bulldawg has come home, with the hiring of Rodney Southern as the new head football coach/athletic director for the Copperas Cove Independent School District.
The board of trustees voted to approve hiring Southern during a special meeting on Thursday afternoon. After that meeting was adjourned, the room turned into a pep rally of sorts, as part of the Pride of Cove drumline, cheerleaders, and Copperettes entered the room.
Southern served as the Assistant Athletic Director/Defensive Coordinator for the Bulldawgs from 1994-2002, under prior Head Football Coach Jack Welch.
When he left Copperas Cove, it was for his first head coach/athletic director position in Marshall, where he led the Mavericks to consecutive 4A state championship games in 2004 and 2005. He spent five years at Marshall before returning to Central Texas and served as Head Football Coach/Athletic Director for the Belton Tigers from 2007-2014.
The Tigers won a district title and made multiple playoff appearances across those seven years.
He then spent 11 seasons as the Head Football Coach/Athletic Director at Huntsville High School, where he had announced his retirement in February.
He led the Hornets to the playoffs several times in his final four seasons there, and the Hornets made two trips to the Regional Finals under Southern, in 2018 and 2023.
“I’ve got to say this, I kind of feel like I'm around family right now,” Southern said as he made some brief remarks after the drumline procession that was followed by a cheer. He assured them that he would be their biggest fan.
“I want y'all to know a couple things, the questions about character, the questions about all those things. I will tell you this right now. – don’t worry about any of that. The one thing that I pride myself on, winning football games is very important. We're in Texas. Everybody needs to understand that. But at the same time, being the best cheer squad or the best dance team or the best band is also important, and also how people handle themselves.
“Because, when I walk out of here today I will be representing every one of you, and when you walk out of here today, you're representing me now. And we have got to bring this place together, and we have got to all push for the common goal, which is for all of us, no matter what we do, to be successful. How you define your success, and how I define my success might be different, and that's okay, but at the same time, you gotta defend me and I've gotta defend you, because nobody outside of us is going to want it as bad as we do.”
Southern hailed back to the “old” days of the Copperas Cove football program, such as one particular game.
“I loved beating Temple High School. I was a part of one in 1994 here that changed this entire community, and that's part of what Texas high school football is all about.”
Mike Wilburn, CCISD trustee, served on the selection committee, said that the three things on his mind for considering the applicants were honesty, integrity and discipline.
“Discipline not only goes for on the field, it goes off the field. And because those young men and those young women represent all of us who live in Copperas Cove. That was an important aspect. And then, another thing that really stuck in my mind was the response that the applicant gave regarding how he dealt with different situations in the schools that he's been, and as we think about that, well, doesn't winning count? Well, yes, it does.
“And we looked at the four places that he's been, Copperas Cove, Marshall, Belton, Huntsville, all four of those places are winners when he was there. That makes a big difference.”
Wilburn also said he was looking for someone who he would want his grandson to play for.
“I think that as we consider those things, we all want someone that's going to be looking out for the best interest of our students, our children and our grandchildren.”
Superintendent Brent Hawkins also served on that selection committee, and he began by thanking Adrian Miller for serving as interim head coach, and he also thanked TDL Sports, with whom the district contracted to receive applicants and compile an applicant pool of 46. Using the district’s profile that it provided to TDL, Hawkins said that the consulting firm took the face off the applicants and matched the best ones up with the attributes provided to them and that matched the resumes the most.
“And they worked through that and they delivered us four exceptional applicants. Of that four, one very much delineated himself from the pack,” Hawkins said.
Southern starts in his new role on Monday, March 31.
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