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Schools

A Lifetime in Football and a Sociology Degree Prepared New Head Coach

Kevin Anderson teaches teamwork and discipline to his PIedmont High School team.

Name: Kevin Anderson

Age: 29

Occupation: Head Football Coach, Piedmont High School

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How did you get into coaching at Piedmont High School?

I started in 2004. I had finished the last year playing college football at Tennessee State University and I came home.

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I was a rookie free agent—I hadn’t been signed to any teams, but I was was looking for a place to train so I could qualify for one of the NFL teams. One of my old junior college coaches, Rusty Robb, was coaching at PHS and asked if I’d be interested in helping him out. I said I would when I could, but then I took off most of 2005 to play Canadian and Arena League Football. …

I had been on the coaching staff off and on about four to five years before going back to Tennessee to finish my college degree. … Then, I got a call from Steve Humphries, son of retired coach Mike Humphries, who said a new coach was being hired.

When I helped out Rusty in ‘04, I was just coaching, but when I met with the head coach, Kurt Bryant, he made me the defensive coordinator right off the bat.

I had played my whole life, but I was only 24 at the time, and he gave me the freedom to explore. It took off from there. 

What kind of success have the Piedmont players you've coached had?

I have had an opportunity to coach a lot of great kids at Piedmont who went on to great things. We have sent students to University of Oregon—Tony Celetto and Keaton Arden; we got a priority walk on (no scholarship but assurance of being on the team) for Alexander Nenke at Stanford; we sent Winters Heafey to Denison College, where he was the defensive rookie of the year, among others.

How did you get into football?

It started when I was young. I grew up in Oakland, a 49ers fan. I played different sports, baseball and track and others, but football is the sport that stuck. … It’s been my sport since I was eight years old.

I … went to high school at St. Mary’s College Prep in Berkeley for three years, then transferred to Cheatham County High School in Ashland City, Tennessee for my senior year. I was selected to be a Prep Star All-American in high school, but I tore my knee up and broke my leg playing. … After that, the colleges that had been interested weren’t confident that I had fully recovered from my injury, so I went to Diablo Valley Junior College in Pleasant Hill for two years. I was a Junior College All-American there, and had quite a few offers from colleges, but my transcripts were released too late to take the scholarship offers. So I ended up going to Utah State University in Logan, Utah ... I chose it because it had a Division I football program, but I decided to transfer to Tennessee State University the next year. Last year, I finally finished my degree there, majoring in sociology. 

How do you use your sociology studies in working with your players?

You’re dealing with multiple personalities in football when dealing with the kids. You all have to work as one, so my major helped me put everybody’s different ego and talents into one unit, so we’re a better team on and off the field.

Football is … 80 percent mental, 20 percent physical. You can be the strongest player physically out there, but if you don’t know what you’re doing it doesn’t matter. So I explain to the kids why they are doing certain plays, so they learn the game of football but also the details—why they choose certain plays over others. 

I oversee study hall every Monday, because being on the team is more than being on the field. Students need to be on time to play and on time for class, with homework ready. If you get that discipline now, it’s easier down the road in life.

Do you have family nearby?

I have some family out here, including a lot of second family I have in Piedmont. The support I’ve gotten from the players is tremendous and I can’t thank everyone enough for what they have done.

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