The Darius Robinson era of Greene County football has officially begun.
The Tigers recently finished their first spring under Robinson, who replaced Terrance Banks earlier this year.
Greene County began its spring camp schedule on April 23 by hitting the practice field.
The Tigers then practiced for approximately three weeks before wrapping up the spring with an intrasquad scrimmage on May 9.
During the winter, Robinson focused on getting to know his players as they participated in weight training and other offseason activities. This time also allowed the former Valdosta assistant to build his staff and instill his culture within the program. Robinson aimed to bring all these elements together during the spring period.
“I thought [the past few months] went very well. The kids are starting to buy in,” he said. “There’s always going to be an adaptive piece that goes into it when you bring in a new regime. The guys just needed to understand expectations, so that’s why it was important for me to get here at the start of February. That way, in the spring, the guys knew the expectations for me in the weight room with them, and it carried over to the field.
Just establishing the mindset that we’re going to be a tough, physical, detail-oriented football team that plays very fast is important. Overall, I think we took steps in the right direction.”
The transition was challenging, and it took the players a few weeks to fully buy in, but Robinson understood the reasons behind it. He knows that coaching changes aren’t easy on the players, especially the older guys.
“If you had asked me this question early on in the spring, I would have just shaken my head and said, ‘No comment.’ But as each day went by throughout the spring, the trajectory of our football team kept rising, and that was exciting for me,” Robinson said.“It ended with an exciting night for our fans, and our community all came out to support us in the scrimmage, so it felt like a good preview for Friday nights in the fall.”
Culture is essential to Robinson, who previously worked at Valdosta under Shelton Felton, one of the state’s top coaches. He took what he learned from the state’s winningest program and brought it to Greensboro for the Tigers.
Robinson respects how Banks rebuilt the program to relevance and wants to build on that success.
“When you’re talking about culture, it’s less about what you say and more about what you do,” Greene County’s new head coach said. “That’s what we’re trying to catapult here with my leadership, as far as with the standard being the standard.
And that’s with everything that you do, not just the showcase that you put on on Friday night, but how you carry yourself throughout the city of Greensboro, how you conduct yourself in the classroom, how you prepare for the game, and so on and so forth. We want to fall in love with our day-to-day, even the monotonous things that some people find boring. We aim to excel in those areas, not just in one thing we’re focusing on. We’re striving to be great young men and great human beings.”
Robinson hopes his players will continue to buy in as the team begins its summer schedule in early June.