In just a few short minutes, an awful lot changed at Nelson County. Billy League — an alumnus, a former football player, the Governors football coach between 1980 and 2003, and the school’s Athletic Director since 2008 — announced his replacement. Then newly named AD Kevin Walker announced his first hire, the football team’s newest coach, Matt Hicks. It was two big moves for a small school looking to change some culture, particularly on the gridiron.
Walker marks new path with hiring of Hicks
It’s no secret in Nelson that League and his father before him, are Governors royalty. League played for Nelson between 1964 and 1968 before attending Fork Union Military Academy for a postgraduate season and then playing for the University of Virginia. League took the AD reigns from Charlie Bennett in 2008. League’s father, Sherman, was Nelson’s first football coach back in 1955 and has a monument on the school’s football facility. Initially a track and field coach, Billy followed his father’s footsteps in 1980 by taking over football coaching duties. Now after announcing his retirement earlier this year, League formally introduced the next Nelson athletic director, Kevin Walker.
Since coming to Lovingston in 2009, Walker has served as the school’s track and field coach and as an assistant for the football team. A Pamplin native, Walker was a state championship track star at Nelson’s Dogwood District rival Appomattox from ‘95-’98. He earned a scholarship at Virginia Tech. He starred for the Hokies as a sprinter and hurdler, qualifying for the NCAA championships in the 110 hurdles in 2000 during his junior year.
“I’m very excited and replacing a legend,” Walker said. “I didn’t think (this job) would come up this early but when the opportunity came I jumped on it.”
The first hire in Hicks
Now the new athletic director, Walker was excited about bringing in Matt Hicks as his first hire on the job. As a football assistant, Walker and League worked together interviewing a number of candidates before they ran into Hicks who’s reputation, style and demeanor won them over.
“He knew all his x’s and o’s and we liked that he was high-energy, we needed a high-energy coach to get the program back on the right track” Walker said.
If you’ve been following football in Central Virginia over the years, odds are good you’ve seen that high-energy coach Walker is talking about. He’s an animated presence on the sidelines, but one with a positive and passionate attitude. While the media met with Walker, Hicks talked to his new players about off-season workouts, expanding the roster and opening up lines of communication. The plan going forward is straight forward given the program’s situation.
“We want to be a zone-based running team,” Hicks said. “It’s something I learned when I was at Monticello, got an amazing view of at Virginia State and then brought to Albemarle. Personnel wise, I think we can do this at Nelson because we have so many different types of athletes. I’ve seen some big kids in the hall and then some skilled players on film. We want that zone-based scheme and then a simple defense that allows our guys to be in position to play fast. It’s about being downhill and playing fast, limit the big plays.”
Hicks has been a football assistant at Monticello under Brud Bicknell before doing the same at Albemarle for Brandon Isaiah. He’s coached at the college level at Virginia State. A West Virginia University graduate, Hicks went to Warren High in Ohio. In between his football coaching gigs, he also took the reigns as the Monticello lacrosse team’s coach where the Mustangs quickly became a contender in the then West-Central Division, playing Western Albemarle in the championship game. Most recently an assistant at Albemarle, Hicks has helped the Patriots qualify for the playoffs in 2015 after a two-year rebuild that he was a major part of.
“It’s so exciting to be able to get started on my own program,” Hicks said. “I’ve been part of programs where it’s been about maintaining success and also where it’s been about building success from the ground up. To be starting on this journey, meeting my guys, the players I’ve been watching on film, hearing people talk about in this community and just some of the guys I’ve met for the first time in the hallways it’s ‘Hey, let’s be a part of something.” Today is something that I can’t tell you about how exciting it is.”
Now he takes over a program that last made the playoffs in 2002 and has been under the .500 winning percentage mark for the last 10 years. That said, out-going coach Mark Poston, now at Rockingham High, helped install middle school football programs in Nelson to help the Governors catch up with the times that have made schools similar in size like Buckingham County and Goochland perennial state tournament contenders. Nelson went 3-27 under Poston, but Hicks is excited about the upgrades to the Governors’ facility, the team’s willingness to participate in the now necessary year-around grind that high school football has become. That grind was a big part of the success for Monticello and Albemarle during both of Hicks’ respective stints.
