Two years out of college, new Pleasant Home assistant football coach Cody McCain is eager to get the ball rolling.

McCain came to PHS from Excel, where he worked for a few years mainly coaching basketball on a volunteer basis.

He graduated in 2008 from Athens State University, north of Huntsville in Athens, Ala.

McCain will be teaching seventh, eighth and 10th grade social studies at Pleasant Home, along with his coaching duties.

McCain said his approach to coaching all has to do with getting “involved” in the program.

“With this being a (Class) 1A school, you just have to get in there and really get involved with the program,” he said. “With football you’re not going to have a big coaching staff. It’s going to be a small coaching staff. Each person has got to really get in there and work well with the kids.”

McCain is originally from Cullman, and is currently living in Monroeville.

Two days a week — Monday and Thursday — McCain has been making the trek to Pleasant Home to learn the new football terminology, coaching staff and what type of strategy the program uses on the field, to name a few.

“Football is like that and is different than other sports,” McCain said. “If somebody is doing something at one school, it could be something else at another school.

“So, it’s important to come over here and meet with coach (Robert) Bradford,” he said. “We’ve been meeting three to four hours a day a couple days of the week.”

McCain said he decided to become a coach because he had good coaches in high school where he played football and basketball.

“It was one of the things I wanted to do,” he said. “I had a lot of good coaches growing up in football and basketball. At college, I decided I wanted to be a teacher first, and then also I wanted to get involved with the sports programs wherever I was at.”

As far as what his coaching philosophy is, McCain said it all has to do with fundamentals.

“For high school, it’s so important to make sure the kids are fundamentally sound with football,” he said. “That’s going to be one of our stressing points here after meeting with the coaching staff.

McCain said the community has been a great help and welcoming since he started.

“It’s been really exciting getting over here and starting to work,” McCain said. “Everybody at the school and the community have been extremely nice. They’ve made me feel welcome here, and have offered help in any way they can give it.”