While he’s only been the program’s head coach for two years — a stretch where he piled up 19 victories and just six losses — Rodney Redd has been a part of the Mustangs’ program for nearly a decade all together. Stints in the college ranks as an assistant at Western Carolina and in high school at Fluvanna broke up a string of campaigns at Monticello as an assistant.
But after years as a fixture on the Monticello sidelines, Redd is moving on, headed to Virginia State as an assistant coach under newly hired head coach Latrell Scott.
Redd, a former captain at N.C. State in the secondary, will reportedly coach defensive backs for the Trojans down in Petersburg for the Division II program.
Predictably, the move left Monticello athletic director and Virginia State alum Fitzgerald Barnes a little conflicted.
“I’m said but I’m excited to get a guy of that quality at my alma mater,” Barnes said. “It’s a good opportunity for him. He needs to be challenged.”
Barnes credited Redd with picking up where former head coach Brud Bicknell left off and expanding what Monticello could do, particularly on offense.
“He gave us a blueprint for what our future teams can look like,” Barnes said. “Brud was a power guy and Rodney kept the best parts of that and tweaked it and brought in other stuff, the more futuristic, zone and zone-blocking approach.”
Redd’s work ethic is unquestioned too. He and his staff developed a young but talented roster this season and built a lot of depth that paid off in a string of six straight wins before a narrow, last second loss to Kettle Run ended the Mustangs’ season.
“The stuff he does for the kids is unreal,” Barnes said. “He’s here at 6 a.m. washing practice gear every day.”
Now it’s up to Barnes to find the next head coach to do “unreal” things for the Monticello football program. That’ll start with evaluating teaching vacancies at Monticello for next year.
“We definitely want them in the building,” Barnes said.
The school’s facilities, talent pool and past success should make the Monticello job an extremely attractive position for football coaches throughout the state and perhaps beyond. It doesn’t hurt either that with standouts like first team All-Scrimmage Play honorees like T.J. Tillery and Josh Malm as well as Alex McNair, Tre Francis and several other key players back in the fold.
“We have eight of 11 starters back on defense, so we’re real excited about that,” Barnes said. “When you hire good people, other people know that you have good people. Some people see a coaching search as a burden, but when you have good people here, you attract good people.”
