PREP FOOTBALL KICKOFF '09: Q&A with Good Hope's Chris Moss

By Justin Graves

GOOD HOPE — Chris Moss isn’t one to play up expectations. The Good Hope High football coach would rather fly under the radar.

But that’s kind of hard to do when your team does nothing but win.

Since taking the helm at Good Hope in 2005, Moss has compiled a 30-15 overall record with four playoff appearances.

And that includes a 6-5 debut season. Since then, Moss’ Raiders have gone 19-2 against region opponents. Good Hope has also won one region title and finished as runner-up twice.

Kind of hard to fly under the radar with a resume like that.

Will that trend continue this season? Moss won’t make any predictions.

Instead, the Raiders coach praised all of his opponents and pointed out his areas of concern.

Typical Coach Speak 101? Who knows.

Good Hope did graduate several key players, including All-Area fullback Jake King. The Raiders also lost a pair of talented linebackers.

But Moss has graduated good players before. He loses good players every season.

And that hasn’t stopped his Raiders from winning — not yet, at least.

So when fall practice begins next week, look Moss and company to address their team’s needs. And when the season starts next month, look for Good Hope to be solid once again.



With fall football practice set to begin next week, The Times asked Moss to answer seven questions about his team. Here’s what the Good Hope coach had to say:

Q: You graduated seveal seniors on the offensive line — again — how is the rebuilding process going?

MOSS: Overall, we lost three offensive linemen … two of them were guards. But our offensive line had a good spring … actually had a really good spring. Now, experience is a concern.

But we should be alright on the offensive line. Those guys should be able to handle the job.



Q: Your teams have gone 19-2 in region play with one title and two runner-up finishes since 2006. Do you expect this year’s team to be in the mix for another region championship?

MOSS: We graduated 15 seniors. That’s a lot of seniors to lose. But we still feel good. The kids we’re going to put on the field are a pretty good bunch. They’re going to play hard … give everything they’ve got.

All of these kids have experienced success before.

This season is going to be interesting. The team we’re going to put out on the field may have a slightly different flavor to it, but it’s still one we’re excited about.

Sure, we lost quite a few seniors. But our coaching staff isn’t the type to dwell on the gloom and doom. If this bunch works hard, we feel like this can be an exciting season … this can be a team that does some really good things.



Q: A strong running game has been one of Good Hope’s trademarks for years. With a talented quarterback in junior Scott Motes returning for his second season as a starter, do you anticipate more of a passing attack?

MOSS: We’re not going to change our philosophy … go to a spread offense or anything like that. But if teams start crowding us up on the line, then we’ll probably throw the ball a little more. Who we’re playing … what we’re up against, that’s going to dictate how much we throw the football.

We’re still going to run the football. We feel like our two running backs can play. And with Scott back at quarterback, this should be fun bunch to watch.



Q: What are your biggest concerns heading into fall practice next week?

MOSS: Building depth at every position has to be our biggest concern, especially on the defensive side. We’ve got a few questions that need to be answered early in practice.

Now, I feel a little bit better about getting ready for the season this year now that we’ve got a fall jamboree. We didn’t play in one of those last year, and I feel like that hurt us. But we’ve got a pretty good one scheduled this year. Addison is going to come over and play us, and they should have a tough football team.



Q: Stingy defense has been the defining trait of Good Hope football since 2006. Will that be a strength again this season?

MOSS: We hope it’s a strength, but we’ve also got a lot of question marks on that side of the ball.

From last year’s team, we lost both linebackers. Those were two All-Cullman County linebackers … two guys that had been playing for a while. We’ve also got some questions on the defensive front. That’s an area we’re putting a lot of work into.

Our secondary is an area we thought was intact, but then we had a kid tear his ACL playing summer basketball. So now we’ve got to find two corners instead one.

Now we do have Josh McClure coming back. He’s a three-year starter at safety … should be a pretty good player for us this year. That’s a plus. But we’ve also got some areas of concern.

So defensively, there’s going to be a lot of soul searching when practice starts.



Q: The AHSAA Central Board recently voted to extend the region playoff format through 2012. Are you for region play, or would you rather return to the old area format that was used until the 200 season?

MOSS: There are goods and bads to both. Now, I know a lot of people want to go back to area play … they want to get all of the close games on the schedule. But that hasn’t really affected us because of the region we’re in.

We’ve been able to get most of the county teams on the schedule. The only ones we don’t play this year is Cold Springs and Holly Pond. Now, if we weren’t in this region, it probably be a little harder to get those games on the schedule.

Now, the good thing about region play is that you have to schedule fewer games. You only have three open dates.



CHRIS MOSS BIO

YEARS AT GOOD HOPE: Heading into fifth season. Took over in 2005 for Alan Dunkling.

OVERALL RECORD: 30-15

REGION RECORD: 23-5 (19-2 since 2006)

REGION TITLES: 1

REGION RUNNER-UPS: 2

PLAYOFF APPEARANCES: 4

PLAYOFF RECORD: 1-4

ADVANCED PAST FIRST ROUND: 1 (2006 lost to Clay County in 2nd round)

BEST SEASON: Went 10-2 in 2006

WORST SEASON: Went 5-6 in 2005

NUMBER OF ALL-STATE PLAYERS: 4 (Derrick Stanley and Jamie Epperley in 2006 and Joe Billiot and Patrick Whitehead in 2007)

VERSUS CULLMAN COUNTY OPPONENTS: 12-5

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