On Thursday, January 31, Cartersville head football coach Joey King announced that he would be leaving the team to take a job as a receivers coach at Coastal Carolina. Coach King earned a 67-4 record as the Canes’ head coach with state championships in 2015 and 2016, and another state championship appearance in 2018. To commemorate his time at CHS, Thomas Smith of the Chipper asked some players and coaches about their time with Coach King.

Administration

Marc Feuerbach, Superintendent

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Feuerbach: I am proud of Coach King and all of the team accomplishments that occurred during his time as head coach but I am more impressed with the personal growth of many of the players who participated in the program.  I saw many of these young men grow as student-athletes during their four years in high school and that is more important to me than any win or loss. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to win games and championships but graduating from high school prepared to win at life is what I care deeply about.  Coach King had a unique ability to inspire his team to believe in themselves and each other and I believe this played a major role in their personal development.

Smith: Do you have a favorite memory of Coach King that you feel might embody his personality?

Feuerbach: I don’t know if I have one specific memory because there are many.  I would say some of the most impressive memories are the times he came by my office to talk about a student in need as he was trying to develop a plan to help the student and their family.  Coach had a deep desire to help others but he didn’t necessarily broadcast this everyone around him. I feel like his willingness to help others without drawing attention to himself for doing so speaks to who Coach King is as a person.

Shelley Tierce, Principal

Smith: During the hiring process, what did you and the administration see in Coach King to make you think he could continue or improve upon the success that Coach Barden had?

Tierce: To be honest with you, I was not on that hiring committee; however, I have spoken with many people since then. I think the one thing that they saw most in Coach King was humbleness. They saw a lot of passion and they knew that he wanted what was best for kids. They saw that he knew how to run the whole program, not just focusing on wins and losses, but how to truly lead a football program that was about, not just creating athletes, but creating young men and getting the community involved.

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Tierce: Obviously, his record speaks for itself, but I think there are a lot of things that you can’t see in a record until you work with somebody everyday. I feel that he was a leader on the field and off. The most important thing for me about Coach King is that he was a leader within his family, within his community, and he set a really good example for these kids for what kind of adults and individuals they should aspire to be.

Smith: Do you have a favorite memory of Coach King that you feel might embody his personality?

Tierce: For me it’s the first year we won the state championship against Buford at the Georgia Dome. I remember giving Coach King so much grief that year. When it was over we were like, “Okay, you need to go eat now!” We would always joke and tell him he looked like he lost weight. You could tell he was living at the school and living through football. When it was over he had this big sigh of relief and we were like, “Now go eat and take care of yourself.” We always gave him a hard time and said he looked bad after that game. He spent a lot of hours preparing, but I think just remembering his emotion after that first state championship was my favorite memory.

Coaches

Mike Candela, Defensive Line Coach

Smith: How would you describe Coach King’s work ethic and passion for his players and the game of football?

Candela: He has an unmatched work ethic. I think it would be impossible to find someone who could outwork him. He’s highly competitive and this drives him to work as hard as possible. He truly takes to heart our calling as coaches to mentor these young men and give them the best opportunity to succeed while teaching them the value of hard work and sacrifice. These are all lessons that we learn from the game and why he uses it to teach the lessons.

Smith: What were your initial thoughts when you found out that Coach King was taking another job?

Candela: ​I was both sad and happy. Sad because I don’t want to break up the band. We have a great thing going and it’s never easy to see someone move one. But, happy because it is such a great opportunity for him and for his career. I have no doubt that he’ll end up in charge of a college football program one day and this is the next step for him in that progression.  

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Candela: ​It was amazing. I’ve grown as a coach and a person. His work ethic and character are contagious. You see that great things can happen when you do things the right way. The team accomplishments are fantastic (the 5 Region Championships, 2 State Titles) But, the fact that so many players are now in college, furthering their education (some for free) or are out in the real world working and being productive citizens. Those are the accomplishments that mean the most. All the wins don’t mean as much if you don’t help raise good men and that was always paramount to how Coach King ran the program.

Smith: Do you have a favorite memory of Coach King that you feel might embody his personality?

Candela: ​I think just watching him interact with all the assistant coaches families.  He always genuinely cared about our families taking a few minutes to ask how everyone was doing.  Talk to our children and wives. It just showed that, although he’s known as a great football coach (which he is), he’s really just a high character individual who cared about those around him.

Tim Graves, Former Running Backs Coach

Smith: How would you describe Coach King’s work ethic and passion for his players and the game of football?

Graves: Coach King has always been about building and keeping relationships going with people. That is a big thing to him. He always tried to connect with everybody. He’d try to have a good working relationship with fellow workers and have a good relationship with kids. He’d try to figure out what was going on in their life and if there was anything he could help with. He was a good, genuine person. As for his work ethic, I think that built as he was a college athlete. He wasn’t going to let anyone outwork him. He was going to be the best that he could be and be prepared for anything that could possibly happen, so he always thought “worst case-scenario, how do I still have that covered”. He had a mind that could think from different directions and have everything covered.

Smith: What were your initial thoughts when you found out that Coach King was taking another job?

Graves: Uncertainty. I’ve been through this before with Coach Barden, but there’s still a lot of “What’s next?”. You hate to see him go, but you wish him the best as he goes, knowing that he’s going to work hard enough to be successful at whatever he does. But, now you’re left with the uncertainty of who you’re going to get. One thing that is certain is that football season is going to come back around next year, so we have to make sure that we’re ready to go. Regardless of who they hire, we have to make sure we keep these kids focused and get this thing ready to go, because next season is a guarantee. It’s going to come, so let’s be ready to go.

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Graves: Working with him was enjoyable. He wanted to make sure that not only was he prepared, but everyone around him was prepared as well. We were successful before him, but he came in and raised the bar a little bit. We won some big games that maybe we shouldn’t have won, but because of the work ethic and everything he expected, it put us in a position to beat teams that maybe we shouldn’t have at those times.

Smith: Do you have a favorite memory of Coach King that you feel might embody his personality?

Graves: You always saw him being so serious and always working, but those times where you see him let his guard down and smile, show you that he’s human like everyone else. He has emotions, he has times that he struggles, and has times that he’s frustrated, but a lot of times he wouldn’t show that out in public. If a kid is struggling at home, Coach King may be struggling at home too. It made him relatable. To be a part of the staff and get to see him as a human being, that’s what I enjoyed the most.

Reggie Perkins, Offensive Line Coach

Smith: How would you describe Coach King’s work ethic and passion for his players and the game of football?

Perkins: You can tell by the time and effort Coach King put into this program that he is passionate, not only for the game of football, but for each member of his team as well.  His first and foremost goal for this program was to build better men, and he worked continuously to ensure that goal was met.

Smith: What were your initial thoughts when you found out that Coach King was taking another job?

Perkins: Selfishly, I was disappointed that he was leaving, but as a friend, and fellow coach, I am excited for the opportunity he has to further his career in this profession.  

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Perkins: It has been fun to be around a program that is run the right way.  He made sure everything was done correctly, and the result is a very successful football program.

Dusty Phillips, Tight Ends Coach

Smith: How would you describe Coach King’s work ethic and passion for his players and the game of football?

Phillips: I think passion is an incredibly accurate word to use when your talking about Coach King. His love of what he does and who he does it with and for is second to none.

Smith: What were your initial thoughts when you found out that Coach King was taking another job?

Phillips: We as a staff are overjoyed for him, hands down. Going back to the word passion, when Coach King does something he has to do it the best and do it at the highest level. For him, this is a step in that direction.

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Phillips: Obviously the numbers speak for themselves. It’s been an incredible run, that we all had a great time and enjoyed immensely. We have a personal relationship that goes back far beyond our time here at Cartersville and even our time as coaches or even adults really, so for me it was a great opportunity to get up every morning and got to work with my best friend.

Kyle Tucker, Secondary Coach/CHS Baseball Head Coach

Smith: How would you describe Coach King’s work ethic and passion for his players and the game of football?

Tucker: I would describe it as second-to-none. He’s a tireless worker. He was always the first one here and the last one to leave. He was very driven, he loves the sport, but he also loved the players. I think you can tell by the reaction of the players after he announced he would be taking another job, but they thought the world of him.

Smith: What were your initial thoughts when you found out that Coach King was taking another job?

Tucker: I was shocked and felt a lot of emotions. We all know how good of a coach he is and that he’s onto bigger and better things, but I figured it would be a year or two down the road. Sometimes opportunities present themselves and you have to take those opportunities when you get them. He got a great opportunity and jumped on it. I’m really happy for him. It still feels surreal. I still feel like I’m going to walk down to the field house and see him, but I’m not. We just have to move on.

Smith: How would you describe your time working with Coach King and what the football team was able to accomplish during his tenure?

Tucker: I learned a lot. He’s very good about time management and managing coaching staff and players. There’s been many lessons I’ve learned from him and taken with me as a baseball coach. He’s really helped me to be a head coach of the baseball team and apply a lot of those principles like, working to the best of you ability, setting expectations, and communicating with players and coaches. That’s why he had the results he had.

Smith: Do you have a favorite memory of Coach King that you feel might embody his personality?

Tucker: It’s hard to give a pregame speech to fire the guys up. It was before a big game and the other team was talking about how they were already champs, so he told the guys, “The only difference between a champ and a chump is the letter U!” and it fired our guys up. I thought it was funny and clever. That’s just one that sticks out. There’s plenty of memories about how he operated the team, but that one’s funny and I’ll always remember that one.