Norman will coach Central football team

Central stole a play from rival Jackson's playbook Monday.

Central High School announced that Nathan Norman will replace Rich Payne as the Tigers' football coach.

Norman, a 1996 graduate of Jackson High School, served as an assistant under Payne this season. This is Norman's first head coaching position.

"I had kind of a starter course working with this staff and this program," Norman said. "I just felt like the time was right and future was bright for Cape Central football with the building of the new stadium, and the administration is second to none. It's been great to work with. It just felt like an easy fit."

Hiring a graduate of the rival school is nothing new for Central and Jackson. Central graduate Carl Gross served as the Indians' coach for 19 years and coached Norman in high school. Norman, who worked as an assistant at Jackson for seven years before taking a strength and conditioning job at the University of Mississippi for a year, said there aren't any mixed feelings about coaching at his alma mater's rival.

Central quarterback Christian Cavaness will return for the Tigers next season, when Nathan Norman will be the team's coach. (Kristin Eberts)

"I had a year in there where I was away from both of them," he said. "I went from Jackson to the University of Mississippi then from Mississippi I came back to Central. That probably made it a little bit easier. But you know what, once it happened, once you get into it, coaching is coaching. Kids are kids and you just look forward to the opportunity to coach on Friday night. That's why I do it."

Payne stepped down Thursday after three years as the Tigers' coach, and Norman said he knew Friday he likely would succeed Payne. But he and Central athletic director Lance Tollison both denied there was an agreement when Norman was hired that he would replace Payne.

"None whatsoever," Tollison said. "Nathan was hired as an assistant and he accepted that position as is. That's kind of the way he took it. ... It wasn't nothing beforehand on that."

Nathan Norman will replace Rich Payne as the Central football coach.

Tollison said he wanted to act quickly to fill the vacancy to capitalize on the excitement the program created this season and to provide continuity for the players.

"When coach Payne was brought on at the beginning of the summer when he first started three years ago, he was kind of behind the 8-ball as far as getting a system in place and getting the kids to know him," Tollison said. "Of course he'd been in the district for a while. At the same time, it's different when you become the head football coach. We didn't want to get into that situation. We had some momentum with the program going in the right direction and we wanted to keep that going pretty smooth and pretty quickly to get the kids in the weight room and things like that."

Tollison said the 32-year-old Norman wasn't the only person looked at for the position, but he quickly emerged as the right fit.

"This is something we just felt like we would tackle in house and in house pretty quick," Tollison said. "That's kind of the way it fell into place. There were some other people on the radar but really with Nathan's qualities and experience, it was just kind of laid out there for us."

Norman's football career exudes success. He helped lead Jackson to the Class 4A state title game as a junior and senior. He continued his playing career at the University of Arkansas, where he emerged as the starting fullback midway through his sophomore season. He helped Jackson reach the Class 5 state semifinals in 2007 and 2008 as an assistant coach.

"There's nothing that does it for me quite like a Friday night football game and getting a group of kids ready to go with a good staff," Norman said.

Norman earned his bachelor's in kinesiology then his master's in education from Arkansas. The father of two sons is a full-time health and physical education teacher at Central.

Norman worked with offensive coordinator Steve Williams during the season to fine-tune the Tigers' record-setting offensive attack. The Tigers tied the school record for victories with 10 and set program records for rushing yards, offensive yards, points scored and first downs. Norman doesn't want to switch what worked so well.

"We're not going to change a whole lot of what's happening," Norman said. "We're going to have to do some maneuvering around because we're without an offensive line coach. But really, I don't see a whole lot of changes taking place. But that's going to come in time when I find out who we can get in here to coach the offensive line.

"I enjoyed this year, working with coach Williams. I think we'll probably keep that intact. Coach [Scott] Schweinbold played a major role in the defensive side of the ball, so obviously he's going to stay there."

Norman said it will be difficult to match this season's success since the Tigers lose 24 seniors from the varsity squad. Central loses its top four rushers, top seven tacklers and only return two players who caught a pass this season.

"If you look at it on paper, we lost a lot of starters and a lot of our players were seniors," Norman said. "But we've got a good group of young kids. If we have a solid year in the weight room and the offseason and the summer, we can be a good football team. But a lot of it is going to depend on how much they're willing to do and sacrifice and put into the football team for next year."