What first day in pads was like for Hardin Valley's first-time head football coach Mike Potter

 Mike Potter ran around the Hardin Valley field house 18 minutes before practice started, checking whether players had turned in their physicals, checking the locker room so players could finish dressing, double-checking the practice schedule to make sure the first day of practice in pads would run smoothly. 

He was named Hardin Valley's football coach in June, after Wes Jones resigned in May, and ever since then he's been in charge of things — managing fundraisers, checking eligibility and collecting physicals — he never paid attention to as a coordinator. 

"It's a lot to manage," Potter, 50, said right before practice started Monday. "You don't really know all the head coach deals with because you're not with him all the time."

He had been an assistant coach his entire career, first at Fulton, then at Halls and at Hardin Valley for the last five seasons. But then Jones resigned and Potter felt it was the right time to be a head coach. 

"I'm 50 years old and this opportunity may never come up again," he said later. So he applied for the job and was named the Hawks second football coach in school history. 

But now he couldn't find his wrist watch, which is how he keeps track of practices, so he went out to his truck and found an old wrist watch. He then went out to the practice field, where the Hawks started stretching.  

"Guess how many (practice) days we have until Oak Ridge?" Potter asked his team about the season-opener. 

"19," they replied but he then informed them it was 18. 

"One less than that if you count the jamboree," he said.

Now as the team divided into stations, he walked around each one, making sure the linemen were dropping their hips during a cone drill, making sure running backs and wide receivers had quick feet while running through cones, making sure everyone went as hard as possible. 

"Act like you wanna be here," he told the players as they huddled around him before the offense and defense went against each other. "We've got to have the mindset to strive for perfection. Nobody's perfect, but we got to strive for it." 

Among those striving is himself. He admitted after practice he that he gets nervous being a first-time head coach. He wants to make sure the program maintains its success. Under Jones, the Hawks made the playoffs in seven of the 10 seasons he was there. They went 6-5 last season and lost to Ooltewah in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. 

"I don't think anybody's going to put more pressure on me than me," Potter said. "I'm going to do my best not to fail." 

He sometimes calls coaches from around the area, Fulton's Rob Black being one of them, and asks for advice. Former Bearden coach Paul Maynard is on his staff and Potter is always asking him for his opinion and advice.

One thing he's trying to figure out is how to format a scrimmage for his team, which will have one against Halls this Friday and William Blount the next. 

But before the scrimmages, his team needed to be sharp, and after doing 15 minutes of conditioning at the end of practice, he spoke to his players. Before he could send them home, he had one more question to ask them — another thing he'll check on in the next 17 practices.  

"Are you making yourself as good as you can be for Oak Ridge?" he asked.