Newly hired Bainbridge High School football coach Jeff Littleton has wasted no time in getting started.

Littleton was officially hired by the Decatur County Board of Education on Thursday evening, and Friday morning he was at BHS to address members of the football team. More than 100 young men sat in the BHS media center as they got their first look at the man that will be their coach next season.

“I’m not going to give you a lot of rules,” Littleton said. “My one rule is to ‘do right.’ As long as we ‘do right’ in everything that we do, we’ll accomplish our goals.”

Littleton had previously served as the defensive coordinator at Cairo High School, and quickly addressed that fact as he talked to his future team Friday.

“I told the kids at Cairo that I still love them as a person, but now I bleed purple and gold,” he said.

Littleton attended Worth County High School and played both football and baseball for the Rams, winning a state football title in 1987 in Class AAA. He earned his college degree at Valdosta State in Business Management in 1993.

While in college, he was a student assistant in football under Milt Miller at Lowndes High School. He later went on to assistant coaching positions at Dooly County, Worth County and Tift County. Bainbridge is Littleton’s first head coaching job.

“I came here because I believe we can win the whole thing,” he said. “I believe we can win a state championship here. If you don’t believe that, then you don’t need to be in this room.”
Littleton said he will play a large role in the Bearcats’ defense, and will call defensive plays.

He noted that his philosophy is to run a “base defense” that allows players to use their athletic skills to execute, and not to overwhelm players with complex schemes.

“We will play aggressive, we will play with speed and we will create turnovers,” he said. “You will be able to use your speed to make big plays.”

Littleton also introduced Scott Roberts, who will be the BHS offensive coordinator. Roberts previously served as an assistant football coach at Tift County High School, and was an assistant coach on the Cairo team that won the 2007 state title.

Roberts said his offense uses primarily an I-formation, but that it can be run with multiple sets. His philosophy is to use a balanced offensive attack.

“We’re going to spread it out, and use our speed,” he said. “The first passing play that we put in will be four verticals, and we’ll have play-action too.”

Roberts was the head coach at Swainsboro from 2008 to 2009.

“I hope you all are as excited as we are,” Roberts said.

Although Littleton focused on his goals in football, he also pointed out that he expects his Bearcats to perform academically.

“You cannot make it to the next level if you do not apply yourself in the classroom,” he said.
Both Dr. Fred Rayfield, the superintendent of the Decatur County Schools, and BHS Principal Tommie Howell also spoke positively about the new BHS coach.

“He’s not only here to win games, but to win championships,” Rayfield said.

“I’m already looking forward to next season,” Howell said. “The fire’s going to be back at Centennial Field.”

Littleton replaces Ed Pilcher, who resigned earlier this year after five seasons leading the Bearcats. Pilcher is now the head coach at Berrien.

(To view Coach Jeff Littleton’s Friday morning address to the Bainbridge High School football players Friday morning, visit the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeDJ7G5mX_U&feature=youtu.be)