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COACH HARRISON
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In
Brief,
Coach
Larry Harrison is a man of multiple talents, who has been coaching
football for 35+ years from upper youth travel leagues in
the early times through high school,
where he has built instant winners every single place he
presided. Harrison was an awarded athlete in his youth and
high school, playing quarterback in football and second base
in baseball and receiving honors in high school Football for Most valuable
player, Outstanding Leadership award, awarded by DeKalb
County, and Columbia High School’s outstanding teenager
award as a senior.
Harrison
remembers the great coaching he had received as a youth and
contributes a lot of his success to those coaches including
coach Phil Knight, his coach at Columbia High School in
Decatur, GA.
Coach Harrison
is the Brother of
All SEC Running Back, and Scholastic All-American,
(Gliding) Glynn Harrison
of University of Georgia
fame from the mid 70’s. Larry was, and still is, his biggest
fan.
Being a business owner and not a teacher, Most of Harrison's
Varsity High School Coaching years came in the later half of his
career beginning in the 90's when community coaching took root.
Harrison was picked up by a local high school and was
launched into a High School Football Difference Maker
immediately, and more publically visible later in the Private School
arena in the GISA. Harrison said, "There are times when a
person just needs a chance". "After that it's up to that person
to prove themselves".
Some of Coach
Harrison’s highlight accomplishments include taking
Lakeside (Atlanta) from 2-8 and worse to atop Dekalb County
in Rushing and the only winning season there in 3 decades.
After that year, Harrison was offered the Head Coaching position at
Nathanael Greene Academy, a very dismal football past
history of 35 years, bringing them immediately to
2 final fours and 1 State Championship game
in his 3 years there. In
2004, Harrison found his NGA team playing for the GISA State
Title in his very first high school head coaching venture.
In 2008 Harrison was called for triage duty at The Heritage School in
Newnan Where he took a brand new football Program, only two years
old (Heritage 3-17 record) and coached them up to 2 playoff births
with rosters of 22 and 21 men and posting two 6-4 winning seasons
In the GISA's "AA" classification.
Harrison’s offense is always at the very top of Georgia
High schools in production, where in 2004 was THE #1 OFFENSE
in the entire state of Georgia, all classifications
included. Coach Harrison's uncanny ability to win where no
other has, and win in the most challenging of situations over the
years, has
earned him
some pretty high status among his peers.
Harrison says that his motivation and drive is the
direct result of his devout love for the game and the kids.
Harrison states: “God has blessed me greatly”.
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Coach Harrison
has made a career out of bringing teams from the bottom
to very high competitive plateaus. At Nathanael Greene
Academy, he became Head Coach over a program that achieve tremendous
success under his watch from 2004 through 2006. Harrison came into
the Nat-Greene family in March 2004 and with 16 players, 9 of them
seniors, he immediately began to talk about winning and
winning big at the tiny school. Evidently, this appealed to the kids for they had never
considered winning as something possible there. After a short
meeting with players the first day of practice, the game was on. The
kids at first, quite frankly, thought the coach had a screw loose,
talking championships on the first day of meeting the 16 players. He
told them they would not only win, but would "win on our terms", and
with the players that wanted it. With the dedication of those 9
seniors and a great new enthusiasm, The Patriots made it through an
unbelievable season with a record 11-2, and only lost in the
State Championship game with less than 2 minutes to play. The
starting line up team average weight was 165 lbs. per man. While
many schools are big into recruiting and scholarships to athletes,
Coach Harrison had taken the kids that were present in the halls of
the small Siloam Georgia school, well out matched in size and speed
nearly every week, to a perennial prominence of no less than
the Final Four each year. Nat Greene had become among the very best
football teams in the GISA Class "A" over those three years. NGA in
it's 35 year previous history was rarely above the bottom of the
region with one or two wins. For all this success, Coach Harrison
gives all the credit to God and his grace, and the privilege to
participate in this great sport and this gift of life, along with
the great kids of Greene and surrounding Counties for all their hard
work, belief, and courage. "What we saw these fine courageous young
men do on Friday nights was quite amazing".
Coach
Harrison concluded his third year at Nat-Greene as a 2004
Region Champion & State Runner-Up, 2005 State Semi-finalist,
and 2006 State Semi-finalist.
After going to
Columbia High School to help his friend Kevin Latham in
2007, Harrison was called by a fledgling football
program of only a 2 year existence at The Heritage School in
Newnan. He took the job in much the same way he approached
the kids at NGA. In Harrison's 2 seasons at Heritage, 2008
and 2009, the Hawks posted back to back winning seasons with
2 playoff births with very young and inexperienced teams. In
2009 Harrison started an unthinkable 3 Freshmen. Coach
Harrison said,
"I am
particularly proud of this team in that we pulled a couple
of the
biggest upsets in the GISA by beating #1 Griffin
Christian, undefeated at the time and they went on, and
never lost until the state title game. A great win for the
Heritage program, along with another huge upset over
heavily favored Fullington Academy, who was picked to be a
finalist. Heritage
had only won 3 games in the two years prior to Coach H.
For Coach Harrison's
Coaching Availability for 2019,, please email
or text. See Contact Page
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GOOD REASONS WHY RUN THE DOUBLE WING OFFENSE |
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2004 STATE RUNNER-UP
For 2004-2006 Seasons, See NGA Pages
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2004 GISA Class "A" Coach of the Year
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2008 - 2009
the Heritage School Hawks
(Newnan, GA)
In 2008, Coach Harrison
became the new Head Coach of the Heritage Hawks in Newnan Georgia.
The Hawks had just recently picked up football in 2006 so most of
the players have only 2 years of total football experience.
Harrison took the
prior 2 year 3-17 record of the Hawks immediately to 2 winning
seasons and 2 playoff bids.
2006
Coach Harrison speaks, and makes presentation, at the
annual Double Wing Symposium in Frisco (Dallas) Texas in
February.
" Wow, such a large
group of coaching nut cases like myself, Coach Tim Murphy,
and others for 3 days sharing info. There were lots of great
times laughing so hard it hurt and outdoor demos in
sub-freezing weather with 40 MPH winds and that hurt too." I
had a terrific time, getting to know a great group of fine
coaches from Maine to Southern California and all points in
between, and made 120 or so new friends.
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It was great meeting and doing the clinic thing in 2006
with One of the best in the country, Coach Tim Murphy
who is now winning huge at Clayton Valley in California....
You know, the home of the "Ugly Eagles" |
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Click HERE for DETAILS AND PICTURES
OF COACH'S 2005 ARIZONA TRIP
2005 Coach
Harrison speaks at "Hugh Wyatt's", Atlanta Double Wing
Clinic on 2-26-2005.
(This From Hugh Wyatt's Web Site)****** What a great lineup
of speakers at the Atlanta Clinic - Larry Harrison,
who went from being an offensive coordinator at a large high
school that didn't always appreciate his offense, to head
coach at a small private high school - Nathanael Greene
Academy - which he took to this year's state final game.
Oh yes - and he did it without a single assistant... Steve
Jones, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, who has coached the
Double-Wing successfully at three different schools, taking
the Ocean Springs Greyhounds to this year's Class 5A
(largest class) final game; Kevin Latham, who as a middle
school coach won a DeKalb County (suburban Atlanta)
championship, suffered a near-fatal heart attack (at the age
of 37) and just finished his first year as a high school
head coach at Decatur's Columbia High School. Considering
the stereotype that so many of us fight - that our offense
is just three or four plays from only one formation - I can
only say what an incredible feeling it is to know that we
have
advanced to the point where at Atlanta and other clinics,
there are now men of the caliber of coaches Gibson,
Harrison, Jones and Latham able to step up and share the
things they're doing.
Coach Harrison among friends as the Atlanta Clinic comes to
a close. Coach Harrison was the final speaker of the day as
he outlined the Nathanael Greene season (11-2) and the great
young men he was blessed to coach. He answered questions in
detail about the offense and what people do, to try to stop
it. "The first thing I had to do at
NGA was to try to bring the FUN of playing football back to
the kids there. They bought into the plan and we indeed had
a great time, week to week, getting ready for the next
opponent."
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COACH HARRISON:
"In my many years of
pursuing various interests, I have consistently stayed with
coaching football from childhood till now. I have coached
football on every level from the upper youth levels through
High School, and have just as much enthusiasm now as I ever
have, about getting kids to play and learn a high level of
football. It seems, that every where I've coached, I
have ended up taking on the struggling team in the
struggling programs and have been very fortunate, in making
winners and over achievers with them, mostly in highly unlikely
situations. After 35 years of coaching, I have managed to
post a near 70% lifetime winning record, taking some
situations where kids had never won, and working them into
being very competitive. I have had a number of championships,
several undefeated teams, and many finalists. I was many
times blessed to have had terrific coaches in my
youth and high school, which really set the course for my
successes in coaching. I was very fortunate to have played
for a couple of really good youth coaches, and my mentor and
senior high school coach, Phil Knight, one of Georgia's
great coaches, in my opinion and many other's opinion".
"In the 2003 football season, I was fortunate enough to be
hired, and served as Offensive Coordinator at Lakeside High
School in DeKalb County (Atlanta) Georgia where my double
wing offense led the county in rushing, averaging over 300
yards per game, and instrumental in getting Lakeside back on
the winning track going (6-4) after a long loosing spell. Then in
2004, I was hired as the Head Football Coach at Nathanael
Greene Academy High School where my hope was to get the
Patriots to football prosperity with my Double Wing Offense.
Then, some amazing things started happening".
**The
2004 football season
is over and we did a most unexpected thing. Coming in very
optimistic and ready to take on the challenges of the
Nat-Greene situation, I had no idea that the progress we
were making was so dramatic. We went to work, and with the
efforts, great attitudes, and high spirits, of the great
kids we have here, an amazing season happened, finding us in
the state championship game playing for all the marbles. In
the beginning we were just tickled to death to win a
scrimmage and then our opener which was a big rival in
Piedmont Academy, a strong "AA" program, but then to follow
with a win over a very athletic and strong Monroe Academy
team coached by Ted McMichael, we started feeling some
confidence that we just may be competitive. We then cruised
a bit until the defending champs came in. They looked like a
team two leagues up from our "A" status but I think they
claim to be legitimate. They beat us good but a second half
comeback, just loosing 26-18, shot us into a higher level of
play, for the balance of the season. We had shocking wins
over a good "AA" Gatewood team 48-6 and ended up finishing
the season scoring in the 40's 50's and 60's with our
offense, and shutting down very strong opponents. We ended
our regular season with a huge win over, then #1, Thomas
Jefferson, and a win over a huge team and cross town rival,
John Hancock 52-13. Going into the playoffs, we were as
confident as could be and marched on like a team that you
would think was a very huge, strong, 270 pound monster type
team, but we were still playing with the original 17 players
we started with, averaging maybe 170 pounds. These kids had
hearts that were larger than life, and I've learned to never
put the huge size of individuals over the size of the hearts
of kids, ever. After taking care of Randolf Southern and a
great Westwood team, we ended up loosing the title game to
the same Toombs team that beat us during the season. The
time to win it ALL was just not ours, even though we beat
them in every facet of the game except the score. Our
mistakes killed us but that is part of the growing process.
The heartbreak is still fresh but we will get over it and
crank it back up next year. We are loosing 9 seniors which
is usually un-survivable at this level, but we will be
checking the heart size, of the kids coming up, and try to
ignore the even younger aged and slighter size we will
display. A couple of move-ins wouldn't hurt for sure, but no
matter what, our goal will always remain the same.
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The
2004 football season
is over and we did a most unexpected thing. Coming in very
optimistic and ready to take on the challenges of the
Nat-Greene situation, I had no idea that the progress we
were making was so dramatic. We went to work, and with the
efforts, great attitudes, and high spirits, of the great
kids we have here, an amazing season happened, finding us in
the state championship game playing for all the marbles. In
the beginning we were just tickled to death to win a
scrimmage and then our opener which was a big rival in
Piedmont Academy, a strong "AA" program, but then to follow
with a win over a very athletic and strong Monroe Academy
team coached by Ted McMichael, we started feeling some
confidence that we just may be competitive. We then cruised
a bit until the defending champs came in. They looked like a
team two leagues up from our "A" status but I think they
claim to be legitimate. They beat us good but a second half
comeback, just loosing 26-18, shot us into a higher level of
play, for the balance of the season. We had shocking wins
over a good "AA" Gatewood team 48-6 and ended up finishing
the season scoring in the 40's 50's and 60's with our
offense, and shutting down very strong opponents. We ended
our regular season with a huge win over, then #1, Thomas
Jefferson, and a win over a huge team and cross town rival,
John Hancock 52-13. Going into the playoffs, we were as
confident as could be and marched on like a team that you
would think was a very huge, strong, 270 pound monster type
team, but we were still playing with the original 17 players
we started with, averaging maybe 170 pounds. These kids had
hearts that were larger than life, and I've learned to never
put the huge size of individuals over the size of the hearts
of kids, ever. After taking care of Randolph Southern and a
great Westwood team, we ended up loosing the title game to
the same Toombs team that beat us during the season. The
time to win it ALL was just not ours, even though we beat
them in every facet of the game except the score. Our
mistakes killed us but that is part of the growing process.
The heartbreak is still fresh but we will get over it and
crank it back up next year. We are loosing 9 seniors which
is usually un-survivable at this level, but we will be
checking the heart size, of the kids coming up, and try to
ignore the even younger aged and slighter size we will
display. A couple of move-ins wouldn't hurt for sure, but no
matter what, our goal will always remain the same.
The 2005 football season
came to a fevered pitch before the sad ending. We made the
final 4 once again and lost a thriller in 2-Overtimes to a
very good Toombs team. In a year that most folks call a
rebuilding year, we were among the very best in our league
at the end and that is what you strive for as a player and a
coach. Not predicted to utter a sound after loosing so many
seniors, this group of fighters worked their way through a
tremendous amount of injuries like I've never witnessed,
and fought week in week out getting better and having new
kids step up to the challenge every week. 4 of the 5 games
we lost this year were so close that it was determined by
and extra point or one miscue on one particular play. Man,
how close can you get? And then the finale (see game page).
It was the game of games and we all know how that went. You
can't get closer to winning and not win, it's that simple.
Well, it's on to next year and the good news is that we only
loose 4 seniors. The bad news is that they are huge players
for us. This is the sad part of coaching, saying good-by to
great kids! I hope they come around to visit like the 2004
guys do. It's always great to see the great kids that played
here coming back to support the guys following their lead.
The 2006 football season
has now ended with a great group of seniors winding up their
football careers with great stories and accomplishments for
a lifetime. We finished 9-4 and a Semi-finalist once again
which in 3 years, these seniors finished as a Region
Champion and State Runner up and 2 time Semi-Finalist.
These four accomplishments are a first in the schools 38
year old history. We set offensive records here that may
never be broken with
14,904 yards of offense over 3 years.
To you seniors, you can take with you the fact that you were
a huge piece of the 3 greatest teams in NGA history to date.
What a great career, what a great season, and what a great
group of young men that graced the halls of Nathanael Greene
Academy.
The year before Coach Harrison
took on the Heritage Project in 2008,
he would go to his alma mater, Columbia High
School, to help Friend Kevin Latham, who was also a big
proponent of the double wing offense.
2014
Coach Harrison Joined Coach Mark
Adams
Coach Harrison, after a rest
from football, returned in 2014
to help Mark Adams at Druid
Hills High School. After being
prematurely vaulted into the
storied 6-AAAAA region, arguably
the most athletic region in the
state, and not expecting to
compete at that high level. The
Druid Hills team came roaring
out of the blocks, winning 4 out
of their first 6 games, with 3
over heavy favorites and
dropping one by only 3 points.
This uncharacteristic winning
streak earned Mark Adams, Georgia
EMC Head Coach of the Week
in week 5. Coach Adams has Moved
on to Cross Keys High and Coach Harrison has
moved on to his next coaching
project but wanted to wish the
very best for all the fine
people of the Druid Hills
Community. A truly beautiful
historic school and area of
Atlanta.
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Double Wing
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DVD's or CD's Now Available
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ORDER
I found this picture below on line and thought it was a
hoot, being my team looks a lot like that lined up.
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So History repeats itself
and Old becomes New? Getting close to
resembling that Gun-Wing! |
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This website was brought to you by Larry Harrison and Friends |
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