Chad Phillips, Starr’s Mill head coach
Today’s interviewee is Starr’s Mill coach Chad Phillips, whose team defeated Central of Carroll County 35-29 in the Class 4A quarterfinals. Starr’s Mill won on Logan Inagawa’s 41-yard pass to Lincoln DeLaere to break a 29-29 tie on the game’s final play (see a video of the play by clicking here). Phillips has been on Starr’s Mill staff since the Fayette County school opened in 1998 and became head coach in 2010.
1. Talk about the final play. What was the situation? The play call/design? Any interesting associated stories? What was the reaction when it happened? Have you been part of a more memorable play? “With the score tied and bad field position, we were almost content with being conservative and playing for overtime. Dorsey Benefield had a 20-yard run to change our mindset to an aggressive approach to get into field-goal range. Logan Inagawa made a great play to get a pass to the sideline and put us in range, but we were flagged for a lineman downfield really late. This pushed us out of field goal range. We had time for only one play. Again, with the score tied and the likelihood of a long TD pass low, the safer play would have been to run our trap. Our offensive coordinator, Burt Waller, and coaches felt we were in a perfect position for our Hail Mary. We rehearse this play every Thursday and have for all 26 years in our history.
“When Lincoln DeLaere [the receiver] ran by me, we had three guys approaching the end zone, and Central had 1. I looked back, and Inagawa stepped up into the pocket and launched the ball. I knew immediately Lincoln was going to have a shot to catch it because of his leverage on the defender. We had some former players in that corner going nuts, and the official threw his hands in the air and chaos took over. It was a perfectly executed play by our kids. It was great to see them have success after all the work we put in. This ranks up there with the walk-off two-point play to beat Will Anderson and Dutchtown a few years back in the quarters and the last-second corner route in the 2010 semifinal game to beat Tucker.
“Funny story associated with the play: Our wide receivers coach is Chad Walker, West Georgia Hall of Fame receiver. He caught a 70-yard Hail Mary in 1994 to beat Elon down the road [from where this game was played] at Carrollton. Same town, coach and player pulling off a heroic play.”
2. What did your team do well in the game that made the difference? “We played very well in the first half and had to hang on for dear life at the end. The momentum really changed after Central made some big plays, and I thought our kids showed great resolve and resilience as the game concluded. We constantly preach ‘win the next play,’ and I thought they always believed we would prevail in the end. The mentality of this group has really grown over the season.”
3. You started 0-2 and 3-3. What do you feel that you're doing better now vs. then? Also, we discovered and wrote this season that Starr's Mill has won four region titles despite losing a game, so you've had a history of dealing well with losses. Is there a secret to that? “Our success here is so predicated on execution. We are not blessed with a bunch of D-I players. We have developed very high expectations and standards here over the years, so on the years we do not have a Power 5 kid, it takes us some time to execute at a high level. We play a tough non-region schedule to prepare us for an extremely tough region, and it will, a lot of times, result in a bad start because we are a little outmatched against the East Cowetas and Sandy Creeks of the world. Losing is a great teacher, and the teams in our region are historically strong. To go through our schedule unbeaten is very difficult. We use an ‘L’ as a great life experience. In the face of adversity, our six core values are Respect, Resolve, Responsibility, Resilience, Resourcefulness and Relentlessness. We constantly preach those values so our players will correctly respond to failure on and off the field. It is our big picture mindset.”
4. What is your current team's identity? What makes your team a little different from others? “Circumstance never determines outcome. Choices and actions do. We have built a culture on ambition, not indifference, certainty not uncertainty. These kids and coaches work their tails off and have learned the value of hard work. They are part of something larger than themselves and are purpose-driven and a pleasure to be around. Our daily operating procedure is of a tremendously high standard. On and off the field, these kids conduct themselves with a championship mentality and a high level of self-discipline. If they leave our program with that mindset, we have been very successful as coaches.”
