Why new ‘elite’ Admirals football coach made the the switch from Ocean Springs to Gulfport
The Gulfport Admirals aren’t content with merely being a regular in Mississippi’s high school football playoffs.
That was the message athletic director Matt Walters and his newest football coach, Blake Pennock, sent across at the latter’s introductory press conference on Monday.
“The big thing I wanted to focus on is number one, I didn’t come here to be good,” Walters, who was hired last February, said. “I didn’t come here to be great. I came here to be elite and, when coach Archie stepped down in December and decided he was going to go into a full time admin role, my job was to go find that next head coach that could take us to the elite level.”
Walters said he received a number of interesting applications, but the former Ocean Springs coach was always at the top of his list.
Pennock led the Greyhounds to the playoffs in all three seasons. His 32 wins are the most OSHS has ever won in a three-year period.
“It was a difficult decision,” Pennock said of taking his new job. “I was at a great place, one that supported me... I wasn’t going to leave a job just to come to another job. The commitment level the Gulfport school district is making to football and athletics in general is something that I think is next level...
“The combination that Gulfport offered with the ability and talent that’s already on the roster and in the program, along with the commitment to being a trendsetter in high school football in Mississippi to me was just too much to pass up.”
Gulfport is working to position itself to compete at the highest level in the state’s highest classification and the hiring of Pennock fits into Walters’ vision.
The school has already installed new turf at the on-campus practice field and Pennock has plans to rework the weigh room, which includes the installment of a nutrition center.
All with the goal of joining some of Mississippi’s biggest football powers as mainstay title contenders.
“It’s just about being on the cutting edge, the cutting edge of player development,” Pennock said. “The cutting edge on what we’re doing with our staff and cutting edge of what we’re trying to do in the weight room.”
The Admirals have reached the playoffs in 11 of the last 13 years, but have found minimal success with only two postseason wins in that stretch.
When Walters arrived in Gulfport from his previous post in Vancleave, he had only known Pennock from brief passing-by moments in games between the Bulldogs and Pennock’s Pass Christian team in 2019 and the most recent Admiral-Greyhound battle last fall.
It was the pageantry of OSHS football that drew Walters in to what Pennock was doing.
“The thing that’s always impressed me about him is his innovation,” Walters said. “The way he doesn’t want to do things the way people have always done them. With the social media presence, the way they show up on game night, the fireworks at the stadium...
“He’s not just a guy that’s going to show up for the flash, he puts everything in behind all of that flash and it builds a great program.”
Ocean Springs, guided by two-time Sun Herald Player of the Year Bray Hubbard, showed the flash and the strength under Pennock by outscoring opponents by at least 300 total points in each of the last two seasons.
Pennock’s desire to bring the same and more to Gulfport is what sealed the deal for Walters.
“The thing that stuck out to me with (Pennock) is he talked about just the relentless pursuit winning a championship,” Walters said. “Really the last thing that he said to me in our interview is what stuck with me and he said ‘Coach, if I’m coming to Gulfport, I’m not coming just to be good, I’m coming for a revolution,’ and that’s exactly what we’re looking for. We’re going to change everything about the way we operate.”
Pennock has a “unique obsession” with winning a championship and the groundwork has already begun with team meetings and spring workouts just on the horizon.
Gulfport will be officially releasing its 2023 schedule soon and it promises to be “beefed up,” according to Walters.
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 11:55 AM.
