By Bill Mitchell

Special Writer

NORTH AUGUSTA - A little fine tuning should put the North Augusta coaching staff just where athletics director Dan Pippin wants it.

Few changes indicate that you don’t tamper with a product that is going in the right direction.

“Everybody is working to be more successful,” Pippin said. “We’re doing all we can to get there and we’re getting to the point where we have a chance to be pretty good in all sports.”

The head coaching changes are few. Mike Allen takes over the boys soccer program and Pip Johnson who worked on the University of Georgia football staff as a graduate assistant last year, will head the boys track team.

“We don’t have a girls track coach yet, but I expect we will fill that position shortly,” Pippin said. “We just have to twist a few arms and get our candidate on board.”

Johnson, who will coach on the football staff and Brandon Abbott, a former quarterback for Pippin, comes on the staff  as well.

Last year’s defensive coordinator Steve Hibbetts has gone on to Westside of Augusta. Another of Pippin’s former coaches, Jeremy West, is at South Aiken.

“That’s nice to have two of our former coaches hold head coaching jobs,” Pippin said.  “ I want people on my staff who always want to better themselves. When you have good people around you, you have to expect them to move on to better jobs.”

Defensive line coach Derrick Quinn becomes Pippin’s third defensive coordinator since coming to North Augusta and he’s on the spot to retain a head-won reputation for tough defense.

“I have felt that we had a great defensive staff,” Pippin said. “Hopefully, that will continue.”

Combining the duties of athletics director and head football is no bed of roses and nobody knows it’s beyond one man more than Pippin.

“We have outstanding coaches throughout our program, but we are really blessed in the fall,“ he  said. “We have really good assistant athletic directors who take a lot of the load off of me during the season.”

A stable coaching staff helps everybody from the AD down to the manager.

“It really helps our coaches in their planning and, most importantly, it helps our kids,” Pippin said. “They know what to expect from the coaches and the coaches know what to expect from them.”

Pippin sees the North Augusta program poised to make the leap into overall success.

“Our goal is for all of our teams to make the playoffs,” he said. “I think we can accomplish that. Our coaches and kids are working hard to make it happen. We’ll see.”