High School coaches can shape a career. They help young athletes build up the skills and character they need to transition to the next level. Whether these high school students choose to pursue their athletic careers or not, high school coaches teach them valuable lessons that they can use throughout their lives.

The three varsity coaches mentioned below are just a few of the many football coaches from Liberty that help students excel.

Ryan McMillen (Head Coach)

Coach McMillen got started as a head coach since the birth of Liberty in 2013. Ever since then, he has not looked back. McMillen has led his team to multiple winning seasons and has also led his team to a Class 4 District 4 Championship in the 2019-20 season. As head coach, McMillen has many responsibilities. “I call the offensive plays, I check the grades of my players, and I also manage the other varsity (football) coaches,” McMillen said. Just as players learn from him, Coach McMillen also learns from his players. “Since I first started coaching, I am a lot more understanding that a lot of these guys could have problems going on outside of school that most people don’t know about,” McMillen said.

Brad Smith (Quarterback Coach)

Coach Smith, as the quarterback coach, is tasked with a variety of things. “I, along with coach McMillen, help run the offense and install plays, and I also teach technique for our quarterbacks,” Smith said. Smith started coaching Liberty football in the 2019-20 season, six years ago, and since then, he has learned a lot about how to coach players in their way. “I’ve learned that different players need to be taught in different ways. For some (players), you can explain it one way, and they get it, but for other guys, you need to explain it differently, so you find yourself trying to find a different language for each player while trying to say the same things,” Smith said. “There’s an art to it, you have to figure out what each player responds to.”

Macklin Parks (Defensive Coach)

Coach Parks has coached for four years here at Liberty, and there have been a lot of things that he has learned throughout those four years. Like most high school football coaches, along with coaching football, he also teaches at Liberty during the day. The transition from the history classroom to the football field could be a harsh one, but Parks has learned how to separate the two. “With coaching football, you learn how to interact with high schoolers differently,” Parks said. “It’s a lot different than a classroom setting. You get to see them do something that they want to do. It’s cool to see them enjoying something that they like to do.”