PREP PRESEASON: Cotton back in coaching to lead Valiant Cross

New head coach Ricky Cotton (far right) was confident his first season at Valiant Cross would be successful, no matter what the won-loss record might be. He will lean on tight end Daniel Moore (left) and John Cosby to lead the Warriors. (Drew Gayle)

By GRAHAM DUNN

The revolving door of head football coaches at Valiant Cross has brought Ricky Cotton to the helm.

For a program looking for stability, he may be just what the doctor ordered.

Cotton, who hasn’t been a head coach since his days at St. Jude, wasn’t looking for a job such as this but was eager to see what he could build at a school that is still somewhat in its infancy.

“Our primary thing that what we're trying to do is to build a better man, and football is the easy part of it,” Cotton explained at the recent River Region Sports Media Day at Garrett Coliseum.

“It's not football. It’s about their manhood and their character. That’s what we are more interested in.”

Cotton is the sixth coach in as many seasons for the AISA program. The list includes a few star-studded names such as Larry Ware, Fred Brock and Willie Spears. But none lasted longer than a year.

“It’s not about the change (in coaches),” said senior Daniel Moore. “I guess we are used to it so we don’t look at it as being negative. We all want to compete and be better players. I feel like we can do special things with Coach Cotton.”

Cotton left St. Jude in 2005 but was not completely out of coaching. He did personal training and worked with a few college programs including Alabama State for a short time.

He understood the ramifications of what Valiant Cross was about when he said he would take the job.

“Dealing with a new program like this, instruction and stuff, you spend more times breaking the habits before you can build habits,” he said. “A lot of kids, they're not used to the discipline or the structure but we’re getting there. Every day I see that we are getting better.”

Cotton will have several newcomers on the roster including John Cosby and his brother James, neither of which has played football at any level.

“I wanted to go out with my brothers and spend one more year with them by playing,” John Cosby said. “It will take some adjustments but I think I’ll be OK.”

“I didn’t have any words for him when he said, ‘hey, I'm going to come out and play,’” Cotton said when told the brothers would be a part of the team this season. “I said, ‘you’ve got speed. I think you can make a good receiver.’”

Valiant Cross has reached the playoffs a couple of times and won a first-round game back in 2022.

The Warriors made it last year in Class AAA, falling to Fort Dale Academy in the first round.

But any postseason talk has been put aside as Cotton makes adjustments.

“Everybody wants to see their name and lights,” Cotton said, “but are you willing to pay the price to have your name in lights? And then sometimes, you have to be careful with your wish for. So we’ve got a lot of teaching moments this fall.”

The Warriors will open the season on Aug. 22 at Hope Christian Academy in what will be the first-ever game for the school in Oxford.