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Collett ready for new position

Russ Collett

PHILIPPI — Just hired as the new head football coach for Philip Barbour High School, Russ Collett has already been visiting the Colts’ Corral in an effort to get to know players participating in after-school strength training drills in the weight room.

Collett, who is the principal at Elkins High School, will finish out his current contract with Randolph County Schools this school year. The contract ends June 30. He will then assume responsibilities for Barbour County Schools as an assistant principal at both the Belington and Philippi middle schools.

“The reception by both principals at those schools has been great,” he said. “We look forward to learning from each other while striving to provide the best environments possible for the students.

“I’m also looking forward to working with Nick Mayle and Brandon Antion as assistant coaches on our staff. Nick has been doing a great job for several years at the middle school level in this county, and Brandon comes from a strong program at University High School.”

Collett said he has made visits to the new George Byrer Field at BC Bank Park on the campus of PBHS, where an artificial playing surface and modern facilities were installed last summer.

“Not just for the community, but that facility is a dream come true for these kids, and for me,” he said. “When it comes to coaching, you can try to bide your time and take over a strong program, or you can be a rebuilder. My experiences down south were largely rebuilding ones, and I look forward to the same challenges here.

“Every program I’ve taken over has been struggling, and within four years, we were doing pretty well. That’s not because of me, it’s because the kids decided to work hard, the parents decided to work and buy in and support fundraising and the administration allowed me to make decisions that are best for the program at the right time.

“If we all work together, we can create a true program that is multi-phased throughout the year. I’ve done that as an assistant or a head coach four different times,” he said. “That’s been the only way I know how to do it, and it works.

“To walk in and have a facility like that to play in, Mr. (Brian) Talbott and the Promise Foundation are to be commended,” Collett said. “This is one of the nicest high school facilities in the northern area. Now in the south where football is king, they have a lot more of this, and indoor facilities too. I’m not talking about building indoor facilities, but part of my goal is definitely to bring a southern football mentality to Philip Barbour High School.

“There have been a lot of positives so far from folks like Superintendent Jeff Woofter and so many others who are working hard to move not just football, but all of the sports programs ahead at PB. I am really looking forward to working with the kids, the parents and the surrounding community. We have had about 35 boys out in the weight room so far, and I hope it stays that way heading into the fall,” he added.

Collett is a 1985 graduate of Elkins High School, where he excelled on the gridiron before going on to play offensive guard in college for the Shepherd Rams in the eastern panhandle. He earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education at Shepherd and also holds an administrative certificate from University of Phoenix.

“I am really excited about the opportunity to be coaching again,” he said. “The Barbour County Schools administration has been great to work with so far and I look forward to working with them to build a strong program at Philip Barbour.

“I have asked for some things already, particularly funds to improve the weight training facility,” he said. “I really appreciate the response I was given. They didn’t say no, they said we will work on it and make some calls to see what kind of help we can get in raising the money needed.”

Collett’s coaching career began at an early age. After being sidelined by a significant knee injury in college, he traded his helmet in for a whistle and became a student assistant at Shepherd under the direction of coach Monte Cater. From 1987 to the present day, Cater has coached the Rams to 235 wins, 91 losses and 1 tie. Shepherd made it all the way to the NCAA Division II semi-finals in 2016, and played in the national championship game to earn runners-up status in 2015.

“I’m a Monte Cater disciple in a lot of the things and philosophy I apply to coaching football,” Collett said. “I learned a lot of x’s and o’s at Shepherd. From there, my wife and I moved to Atlanta, where I coached at Etowah High School as an assistant, and learned a lot about being a head coach from Rick Swales.

“Shortly after that, Sherri and I began having children, and wanted them to be closer to their grandparents. So we moved to northern Virginia, where I had my first head coaching position at a private school named Bishop Ireton in Alexandria. I was only there one year, and we didn’t do too well. We were very academic and not very athletic,” he added.

Collett then had an opportunity to take over a head coach vacancy at a public school, Falls Church High School in Virginia. He said that after a four-year stint at Falls Church, he and his staff had turned the program around before an opportunity to move back home to Elkins opened up for he and his family. Collett soon thereafter became the head coach at Tygarts Valley High School.

“We had some rough and learning years at first when I started at Tygarts Valley,” he said. “We were 0-20 at first, but we started nine freshman our first year. We had a good year in 2005 after those kids worked so hard. I will always be so proud of them and they hold a very special place in my heart.”

Collett also served as the coach of the Elkins Middle School football program for three years, and volunteered as the tight-ends coach during the first season when football returned to Alderson Broaddus University in 2012 after an 82-year absence.

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