Veteran coach comes out of retirement to lead Daleville football
Daleville High School officially hired former Early County head coach Trey Woolf on Wednesday afternoon, July 18, to become the new head football coach and athletic director.
Woolf replaces former coach Rob Armstrong, who moved on to an administrative position at a high school in Florida last month, as Daleville’s third coach in three years.
With Armstrong’s departure so late in the offseason it was imperative for Daleville to find a new coach with experience and soon, according to Daleville principal Josh Robertson.
“The biggest thing was his years of experience and his desire to continue to lead young men in life,” Robertson said of the hire. “You really don’t get someone with that much experience in the middle of July like this and we just couldn’t pass up the chance for him to come in and work with our kids. We were just ecstatic that he was available and interested in the job.”
Woolf retired from coaching following the 2016 football season after 16 years coaching his alma mater, Early County High School, in Georgia.
“I really missed just teaching the kids and the relationships you build with the players and coaches,” Woolf said. “I missed being around it and I’m excited to be here.”
Woolf went 105-75-3, won one region championship and took his team to the playoffs in eight of his 16 seasons at Early County, including a state championship birth in 2001 and two semifinal appearances in 2002 and 2006.
Woolf also has a connection to Daleville in former Early County and Daleville coach Harry Wayne Parrish.
Woolf was an assistant coach under Parrish for 10 seasons at Early County and succeeded Parrish as Early County head coach following Parrish’s retirement in 2000.
Parrish was an assistant coach at Daleville in the 1970s and came out of retirement in 2004 to coach Daleville for one season before retiring again. Parrish’s son, Josh Parrish, was also the head coach at Daleville from 2014 through the 2016 season before taking over at Northview.
“I knew about the tradition over here and I knew a little bit about the administration and I just thought it was a really good opportunity for me to kind of restart my career,” Woolf said of taking over at Daleville. “I don’t know that there has been a lot of coaches in this exact position, taking over so late in the summer, but it is what it is and we are going to get to work and get things headed in the right direction.”
Woolf said that he has run the Wing-T offense for much of his career, which is similar to that option-style of offense run by Armstrong, so he doesn’t plan to make any drastic changes immediately.
“Right now our plan is to try and keep going with what Coach Armstrong was doing,” Woolf said. “We won’t do everything exactly the same but because it’s so late I want to try and do what makes them comfortable. We want to work with what they know and then we can build on from that.”
Woolf said that as time goes on the Warhawks will likely add more wrinkles to the offense but wants to keep things simple to start off.
Robertson said the expectations of the Daleville administration for Woolf are pretty simple.
“We wanted a good football coach but we also wanted someone that can teach young men how to be great men,” Robertson said. “We want them to grow up to be good fathers, good husbands and successful men in the future and we just wanted someone that help them become that. We think Coach Woolf fits that bill.”
Woolf wants to win, like any coach, but that isn’t where his emphasis lies.
“The biggest thing I want, and I can promise you this, is I want these kids to have a good experience and enjoy their time in this program, but at the same time learn skills that is going to carry over and help them later in life,” Woolf said. “If we do the right things, work hard, do great in the classroom and do great in the community then it will spread over into Friday night. I’ve seen it happen.
“I don’t have expectations on wins or losses right now. I’m worried about right now. I’m worried about day-to-day getting these kids to trust me and to work the way I want them to work. The wins will take care of themselves once we get all that going.”