Daniel Mayes: It's fitting that milestone win for coach, program came on the same night at Coahulla Creek
Oct. 28—When Danny Wilson took over the football head coaching position at Coahulla Creek High School prior to the 2020 season, he had 88 victories as a head coach.
Wilson compiled those during a long career at two high schools in Tennessee, winning a state title in 1994 as the coach at South Pittsburg.
When he took over the Colts program after three years as Creek's defensive coordinator under then-coach Caleb Bagley, reaching the milestone of 100 career victories might have looked like it would take several years.
Especially given the program's condition two years ago.
Coahulla Creek's football program had never won more than two games in a season prior to Wilson taking over.
In his first season, the same. A 2-8 finish in 2020 got Wilson to 90 wins.
Some might have thought at that point that five or six more years might be needed for Wilson to reach 100.
Instead, Wilson accelerated the timeline, for him and for the Coahulla Creek program.
Four wins in a season had been unheard of for Coahulla Creek, but that's what the Colts finished with in 2021.
A playoff appearance was unthinkable a few short years ago, but Creek has one locked up with two games to play this year.
The program was 9-71 in the eight seasons before Wilson took over. With him at the helm, the Colts have gone 12-16, including a 10-8 mark in the last two seasons.
Last Friday night's 14-10 win over Bremen was the playoff-clinching victory, giving the Colts their sixth win of the season and securing the first winning season in school history.
It also got Wilson to 100.
Wilson was honored at a ceremony at the school Wednesday morning for that milestone. A commemorative plaque honored what he'd done during a long career in Tennessee and what he's continued to do at Coahulla Creek in a few short years.
The milestone win for him was also a milestone win for the program. Ask Wilson and he'd deflect any celebration of his career toward his players. He'd heap praise on the players and his coaching staff. He's credited Bagley with starting to build the culture that led to the historic turnaround.
Wilson has built a winner in the Colts.
It's only fitting that the breakthrough for the Coahulla Creek football program came on the same night as a milestone win for its coach.
Who knows when — or even if — that breakthrough for the Colts would have been achieved without him.
Daniel Mayes is the sports editor of the Dalton Daily Citizen. Write to him at danielmayes@dailycitizen.news.
