WS Chronicle

Walkertown High School has been playing a varsity schedule in football since 2013. They have not been able to build a winning tradition as of yet; that all looks to change with the hiring of Rodney McKoy as the new varsity football head coach.

McKoy replaces Mitch Reeves, who was the interim coach for the Wolfpack last season. McKoy says he was waiting for the right opportunity, after being out of coaching for the past few years, and felt this was the right place for him.

McKoy said he was shocked when he received the call he was chosen as head coach for Walkertown. He says he always wanted to be a head coach in Forsyth County and only took the Andrews head coaching position because no one would hire him.

“I had wanted to be a head coach again at the high school level and this job opened up in June, so when I applied,  I had to wait until the end of the season and I applied again in November,” said McKoy. I didn’t hear anything for an entire month, then someone contacted me to come in for an interview.”

McKoy has an extensive and impressive coaching resume from his previous coaching positions around the Triad area. He was the defensive coordinator at Carver, helping lead them to the 3-A state title in 2002, spent nine years at High Point Andrews as their head coach, leading them to the 2-A state championship in 2013, and most recently worked as an assistant coach at Ben L Smith High School (Greensboro). 

The decision to take this position was an easy one for McKoy. He says he prayed about his choice and this seems to be the right one. 

“A lot of people said for me not to go there, because they were only thinking of the wins and losses initially,” he said. “I didn’t look at it like that, I looked at it as a brand new high school with good academics, in a pretty good area.

“Traditionally, if you know anything about the middle schools in that area, they have always had pretty good players out there. I just looked at it like of all the jobs that have come open, which one is the most promising long term, and I felt Walkertown had the greatest upside to it.”

McKoy is well aware that Walkertown has not built a steady foundation for their football program yet. McKoy says his plan will take some time, but if everyone stays patient, he knows the wins will come.

“I told my principal that I have a four-year plan and a vision on how I think things should be,” he continued. “The number one thing we have to start doing, including myself and my coaching staff and my players, is to have some accountability.

“Everyone has to be accountable.  We have to come work hard, be there on time and organize everything the right way.  We have to do the things that good programs do.”

The second step for McKoy is to not try and build the program for 2019, but instead build the program for 2022, he said. 

“Everybody wants to win right away and I do as well, that may happen, but if you put the cart before the horse, you will have success early, but you won’t have the long-term success,” said McKoy.

“The success will come if you build the program the right way, because people want to be around programs that win.”

McKoy says his track record of winning helps build some credibility with his players and staff, but knows he will have to prove himself on the field to get everyone on the same page. “I am not above proving myself or working hard to organize a program and teaching the kids the right things to do to be successful,” he said.

McKoy says he is not into making predictions, he just wants his guys to line up and play hard every down. “I set some goals for the players and staff and I expect them to work and play hard, because good stuff happens when you play hard.”