Willie Coats (2002) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Willie Coats

Induction:
2002

One very team there is a player who not only excels as an athlete, but whose teammates look to for leadership both on an off the field. A player who is almost a coach on the field. Who innately knows what to do and when to do it in nearly every situation.
   Not only do the players know who those players are but the coaches do as well and they never hesitate to call on that player in critical situations, because they know more times than not they will deliver.
   Willie Gene (Teenie) Coats was that type of football player at Southern Miss from 1955 to 1958 when he played for the legendary head coach Thad (Pie) Vann and the lessons learned over that four-year period Southern won 33 games, lost only six and tied one. Two of those teams went on to play in post-season bowl games.
   While there were many great stars on those great teams, Coats was without a doubt one of the key ingredients on the 1958 squad that captured the UPI College Division national Championship.
   Coach Vann had a great influence on Coats during his career and many times during the incredible 1958 season, Vann called on Coats and Coats responded with the types of plays that helped him earn induction into this Hall of Fame.
   Following graduation there was little doubt that Coats would turn his attention to teaching and coaching and he served as head football coach at Seminary High School from 1964 to 1966 and Lumberton high School from 1966 to 1970. From there he was head coach at East Central Junior College from 1970 to 1976, before returning to the high school ranks at Decatur and Quitman High Schools.
   After a seven-year stint as head coach at Hattiesburg (Miss.) High School, Coats concluded his coaching career at Pearl River Junior College and again at East Central Junior College, where he retired in 1998.
   As a high school and junior college coach he won numerous conference championships, was selected Coach of the Year several times and produced an enormous number of athletes that went on to excel at junior college and major colleges around the country.
   One thing that you knew for sure whenever you faced a Teenie Coats team was that you had better be ready to play, because you wouldn’t face a team that would play any harder and tougher and be more fundamentally sound.
   If you looked very closely you would have seen many of the things that Coach Coats had learned back in those years with Coach Vann were evident with many of his teams and one of the reasons those teams were so successful.
   At Southern Miss there is a tradition of players who although they aren’t the marquee names and players that go on to fame and fortune in the National Football League., do what it takes to maintain the success of Golden Eagle football, do what it takes to maintain the success of Golden Eagle football. Those players are the heart and soul of Golden Eagle football and are what makes it great. Willie Coats deserves a berth among those players.