By Robert Wilson
Doug Goodwin had a remarkable season in his first year as Jackson Prep’s head football coach.
The 60-year-old Alabama native, former Auburn defensive back and Alabama Sports Hall of Fame high school coach led Prep to a 12-1 record and the MAIS Class 6A state championship and brought the Patriots back from the most losses since the first year of the school in 1970 (an 8-5 record in 2022).
Not even Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame member and former National Coach of the Year winner Ricky Black won a state title in his first year at Prep in 1997. Black – the second winningest high school football coach in Mississippi history with 401 victories – won his first 10 games but lost in the first round of the playoffs in his first season. He won the first of his 13 state titles in his second season, in 1998.
Paxton Thompson completed two long second-half touchdown passes and the Prep defense held Madison-Ridgeland Academy scoreless in the second half and took advantage of five turnovers for a 21-14 victory over three-time defending MAIS Class 6A state champion MRA for the 6A state title last season. No. 2 seed Prep won its seventh straight game, and avenged its only loss of the season, a 26-14 decision to MRA Sept. 30.
Goodwin’s state championship was the first for Prep since 2018, breaking a four-year drought. When Black won in 1998, he broke the longest drought in school history, a seven-year streak.
Also, Prep’s win over MRA last year kept MRA from winning four consecutive titles. Prep is the only MAIS team in the highest classification to win four or more consecutive, winning seven straight under Black from 2012-2018.
Many Prep fans and alumni see similarities between Goodwin and Black, both are organized, have high integrity, keep an even keel, bond well with their players, allow their assistants to coach and players play hard for them.
“I don’t think anyone thought we would win the state championship in the first year,” said Goodwin, who won 234 games in his 27-year head coaching career in Alabama and was the first football coach in Alabama to take three different schools to state championship games. “After we started playing, I felt like we could be pretty good if we kept getting better and were lucky with injuries. Other than losing (running back) Lake Womack in the first MRA game (in the eighth game of the season), we were fortunate. Our players stayed focused and kept getting better each week. When you do that, anything is possible.”
Goodwin took over for Tyler Turner (he coached one season at Prep after replacing Black) and started in last February.
“My first goal when I got on campus was to get to know our players and coaches on a personal basis,” Goodwin said. “Of course, with the players that happened faster for some than others because some were playing other sports and I wasn’t able to spend so much time with them. I was more concerned with the relationship aspect of building our team than the football aspect of it. I knew there would be plenty of time for the football part. My priority was to earn the trust of the players and coaches.”
Goodwin places a high priority on organization.
“I do think that I’m organized in the way that we run the program,” Goodwin said. “I believe strongly in things having an order and there being a well-planned process to accomplishing your goals. Football is a situational game and people usually operate best in a structured environment within a routine. I want to cover all or most of the situations our team will see on a weekly basis. I don’t want them to have questions about what we will be working on a particular day. I want them to be prepared and to know what is expected of them.”
Now, Goodwin goes for back-to-back titles in the tough MAIS Class 6A, quite a challenge with the likes of MRA, Hartfield Academy and Jackson Academy, who all are expected to be improved since last season.
“We are way ahead of where we were this time last year from a teaching standpoint,” Goodwin said. “Everyone knows what’s expected from them now. I have a better feel for the players and coaches and I’m familiar with the school and the league now.”
The biggest losses to graduation were quarterback Paxton Thompson (now playing at Itawamba Community College), linebacker Duncan Mathews (now playing baseball at South Alabama), and wide receiver Will Upton (who set the school record for most receiving yards last year and is now playing at Auburn), all three were members of the PriorityOne Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard All-Metro Jackson team last season.
Prep returns nine starters (five on defense and four on offense), including senior defensive back Micah Stallworth, who made the All-Metro Jackson team last season. Stallworth had a team-high four interceptions and had one interception and five pass breakups in the title win over MRA. In addition to the returning starters, talented junior linebacker Tre Bryant – son of longtime NFL kicker Matt Bryant – is expected to make an impact for the Patriots. Bryant transferred to Prep from Orange Beach in January and helped lead Prep to its sixth straight MAIS 6A state baseball championship and final national ranking and made the All-Metro Jackson team as a third baseman, the only sophomore on the first team.
Photo by Robert Smith
Thompson’s replacement at quarterback is junior Billy Puckett – brother of senior tight end Peyton Puckett. The Pucketts’ father is Hastings Puckett, one of the top basketball players in Jackson Academy history. Hastings helped JA to two MAIS Overall championships and signed with Division I North Carolina-Wilmington. Peyton Puckett has a football offer from Division I Memphis.
Goodwin has two new coaches on his staff, Keith Giordano replaced Marcus Thompson as offensive line coach and Brent Heavener (who is also the head baseball coach) replaced Zander Romano as wide receivers coach. Thompson moved into administration and Romano is now the head baseball coach at Heritage Academy. Defensive coordinator Nick Brewer is the veteran of the staff. He has been at Prep since 1999, 10 of those years as defensive coordinator. Brewer has been a part of 13 state championships at Prep.
“Coach Goodwin brought a calming effect to our program and we went back to what we were doing with a lot of things with Coach Black,” Brewer said. “Our senior group had three different coaches, maybe the first class in school history to have that. Coach Goodwin helped galvanize that senior group and our chemistry was very good. I hope it carries over to this bunch this year.”
“Coach Goodwin coming in brought so many positive things helping our team with his great offensive mind and his leadership,” Prep senior defensive end Andy Brown said. “As a team, we came together and played as one. The seniors were great examples of how to lead last year. They paved the way for us. They did the little things and taught us how to be a successful team. We have some returning starters on both sides of the ball. That experience has a lot of value. We won it all and know what it takes to do it again. There is a tremendous amount of talent in the MAIS this year. We have a target on our backs as the reigning state champions so everyone has extra motivation to beat us.”
Goodwin was working at Ole Miss when he heard that there was an opening at Prep. Goodwin had been a special teams analyst for the past two seasons at Ole Miss and held a variety of coaching positions, including director of high school relations, at Auburn from 2014-2019.
“One of our former assistant coaches who coaches in Mississippi now (Jim Crowder at Pillow Academy in Greenwood) told me about Jackson Prep,” Goodwin said. “He said that it was a great job and that I should look into it. I talked to a guy I worked at Ole Miss about it (then director of football operations John Miller) since he had spent his entire career in football in Mississippi. He had great things to say about the school and program as well. I had heard of Jackson Prep in the past, mainly because they had won so many games and championships. Everyone I spoke to about the school and program had positive things to say. One thing led to another and here I am.”
Goodwin grew up in Sylacauga, Ala., and was a walk-on defensive back at Auburn under Pat Dye and graduated from Auburn in 1984. He was a head coach at five public schools in Alabama, four years at Russellville, eight at Demopolis, six at Lineville, six at Marion County and three at Homewood. He led Demopolis to an undefeated season and a state title and set a state record with 761 points in 2008. He also had four state runner-up finishes. Goodwin led his teams to the playoffs in 19 consecutive seasons from 1993-2010. He was named the Alabama Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2008.
“My high school coach (Bill Rayburn) had a big influence on me,” Goodwin said. “He gave me the chance to start on the varsity as a sophomore, which not a lot of guys at my high school had been able to do. He believed in me and that has helped me to believe in my players over the years. He was tough, but he loved us, and we knew it. We didn’t want to let him down. Coach Dye had an influence on the coach I became. I learned how to work from him. The first high school coach I worked (Rusty Nichols) for also had an influence on me in that he gave me a chance to coach and was always positive with me. He made me believe that I was doing the great job, whether I was or not. He was a great motivator.”
Goodwin’s sons, Dusty and Devin, were outstanding athletes. Dusty was an All-State quarterback at Demopolis High and played quarterback at Auburn and North Alabama. Devin was also an All-State quarterback at Demopolis High, played quarterback at Delta State and was an All-American shortstop for DSU. He played six years in the minor leagues in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Dusty is now an assistant football coach at Thompson High in Alabaster. Devin works in logistics in Birmingham.
Goodwin and his wife, Donna, will be celebrating their 41st wedding anniversary Sept. 4. They have seven grandchildren. Dusty and his wife, Sara K, have four boys (Whit, Colt, Grant and Jeff). Devin and his wife, Brittany, have two boys (Aiden and Jackson) and one girl (Paisley).
Goodwin’s second season at Prep starts with a visit from Class 5A Copiah, which reached the state semifinals last year. The opener is scheduled for Aug. 18 at Prep.
Prep opens its 6A conference play against rival Jackson Academy Sept. 8 at JA.
In addition to the MAIS 6A schedule, Prep has an interesting matchup Sept. 29 at MHSAA Class 5A West Jones, one of the top public school football programs in Mississippi over the past two decades. The two teams have never played each other in football.
