By J.P. Mundy sports@greensboro.com GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD
HIGH POINT — Scott Bell was no stranger to High Point Christian Academy football when he took over as head coach last year, having served as an assistant for many years.
But he found the learning curve as a head coach was still a tad steep.
“It was a learning experience, no doubt,” Bell said. “The opportunity came quicker than I expected. I learned a lot. There was a lot of watching film and learning about other teams, as well as some experimental stuff, too. We just tried to learn from our mistakes and improve every day. I definitely feel like I’m a better coach than I was last year.”
The biggest adjustment for the newly minted head coach, however, came with all of his off-the-field responsibilities. As a private school, High Point Christian is free to admit students regardless of where they live, provided they meet the academy’s requirements. This means a lot of time for Bell and his staff talking with prospective student-athletes.
“The process of talking with parents and prospective players, I can’t tell you the dozens and dozens I’ve talked to during the offseason that I’ve talked to at least 50 times,” he said. “I’ve met with them, we’ve toured the school, we’ve talked about philosophies and coaching and things like that. It has been absolutely overwhelming. And it’s a good thing. We transferred in 13 varsity players this year from public schools.”
While private school football has been thriving in places such as Charlotte and Raleigh, High Point Christian stands alone in Guilford County. Its closest private school opponent is Kernersville’s Bishop McGuinness, a Catholic school that plays in a public school league. But Bell said being “the only game in town” when it comes to private-school football has its benefits.
“Greensboro private schools don’t have football, which is amazing,” he said. “But we’re definitely seeing an escalation at our school, with 13 new kids on varsity. Actually, we may end up with 15 varsity players and a dozen JV players. A lot of these (transfers) were all-conference or captains of their teams elsewhere, so we’ve got a good group of kids that came in.”
The Cougars are trying to build on an 8-3 season that ended with a 27-23 loss to Wake Christian in the NCISAA Division III playoffs. Bell is excited about the makeup of a team that more than held its own in summer 7-on-7 scrimmages against Glenn, Parkland and Randleman.
“We’ve got good speed and a lot of experience,” Bell said. “We’re a young team, with quite a few sophomores and juniors and even some freshmen that will get playing time. We’re not quite as big as we were last year, as far as size and strength, but we’re definitely faster.”
Bell is quick to emphasize that winning is not the only metric by which he judges his teams.
“Every team talks about wins: Let’s win this, let’s win a state championship, let’s beat this rival and so forth. But like I’ve talked to my kids every day, at this point nobody here is going to get paid to play football. We try to develop kids with character, discipline and a commitment level so that when they leave our school, we want them to be prepared for the real world and be good fathers, good husbands, good coworkers and good Christians. We don’t want to be 0-10, obviously, but we feel if we do all those things then the wins will come.”
Contact Joe Sirera at (336) 373-7034, and follow @JoeSireraNR on Twitter.
HIGH POINT — Scott Bell was no stranger to High Point Christian Academy football when he took over as head coach last year, having served as an assistant for many years.
But he found the learning curve as a head coach was still a tad steep.
“It was a learning experience, no doubt,” Bell said. “The opportunity came quicker than I expected. I learned a lot. There was a lot of watching film and learning about other teams, as well as some experimental stuff, too. We just tried to learn from our mistakes and improve every day. I definitely feel like I’m a better coach than I was last year.”
The biggest adjustment for the newly minted head coach, however, came with all of his off-the-field responsibilities. As a private school, High Point Christian is free to admit students regardless of where they live, provided they meet the academy’s requirements. This means a lot of time for Bell and his staff talking with prospective student-athletes.
“The process of talking with parents and prospective players, I can’t tell you the dozens and dozens I’ve talked to during the offseason that I’ve talked to at least 50 times,” he said. “I’ve met with them, we’ve toured the school, we’ve talked about philosophies and coaching and things like that. It has been absolutely overwhelming. And it’s a good thing. We transferred in 13 varsity players this year from public schools.”
While private school football has been thriving in places such as Charlotte and Raleigh, High Point Christian stands alone in Guilford County. Its closest private school opponent is Kernersville’s Bishop McGuinness, a Catholic school that plays in a public school league. But Bell said being “the only game in town” when it comes to private-school football has its benefits.
“Greensboro private schools don’t have football, which is amazing,” he said. “But we’re definitely seeing an escalation at our school, with 13 new kids on varsity. Actually, we may end up with 15 varsity players and a dozen JV players. A lot of these (transfers) were all-conference or captains of their teams elsewhere, so we’ve got a good group of kids that came in.”
The Cougars are trying to build on an 8-3 season that ended with a 27-23 loss to Wake Christian in the NCISAA Division III playoffs. Bell is excited about the makeup of a team that more than held its own in summer 7-on-7 scrimmages against Glenn, Parkland and Randleman.
“We’ve got good speed and a lot of experience,” Bell said. “We’re a young team, with quite a few sophomores and juniors and even some freshmen that will get playing time. We’re not quite as big as we were last year, as far as size and strength, but we’re definitely faster.”
Bell is quick to emphasize that winning is not the only metric by which he judges his teams.
“Every team talks about wins: Let’s win this, let’s win a state championship, let’s beat this rival and so forth. But like I’ve talked to my kids every day, at this point nobody here is going to get paid to play football. We try to develop kids with character, discipline and a commitment level so that when they leave our school, we want them to be prepared for the real world and be good fathers, good husbands, good coworkers and good Christians. We don’t want to be 0-10, obviously, but we feel if we do all those things then the wins will come.”
Contact Joe Sirera at (336) 373-7034, and follow @JoeSireraNR on Twitter.
