(Photo by Mark Gilliland) Howard's Head Coach John Starr before the game against Red Bank on September 2, 2016.Like they have so often whenever there's a life event for either of them, John Starr called his good friend Mark Mariakis for some advice last spring. Starr was mulling over an offer to become the head coach football at Howard and called Mariakis looking for details before leaving a 30-plus-year coaching career in Georgia to cross state lines into the unknown.
"I told him he would be a perfect fit because I know how he builds programs," said Mariakis, who worked as Starr's defensive coordinator for four years at Chattooga and later hired Starr to his staff at Ridgeland. "John is my mentor when it came to knowing how to love kids that others turn their back on. He has a way of wrapping discipline in love and giving kids high expectations, and they respond to him.
Mariakis paused and added with a laugh, "Now I'm kicking myself for telling him to take the job, because it just means we'll have a really tough team in our region with him coaching there."
Mariakis will take his young Chattanooga Christian team less than two miles up the road tonight to visit Howard, which is beginning to surge under Starr.
Last week the Hustlin' Tigers blistered Lancaster Christian 63-26, scoring every way imaginable - on the ground, through the air, on a kick return, on a blocked punt return and with two safeties and a fumble return for a touchdown from the defense.
Not only was last week's output more points than Howard had scored the three previous seasons combined, it was the most in a game by the program since 1969.
"If we hadn't turned the ball over three times, we could have had even more," said Starr, proving that coaches really can find a flaw, no matter how small, in any win. "We're starting to play the style of defense - fast and very physical - that I wanted us to, and we've got some guys who can be dangerous on offense.
"We've grown leaps and bounds on both sides of the ball since our first game, and it was big for us to score in so many ways because it builds confidence in the kids. We want them to have some swagger, just not too much."
Few coaches can match Starr's ability for keeping young egos in check. At a recent Howard practice, after watching one of his starting offensive linemen get beat twice by a scout-team defender, Starr singled out the big man, yelling across the field, "You might as well buy him a Father's Day present and call him 'Sir,' because he is your daddy right now."
The comment got the desired result when the lineman plowed over the defender on the next snap, sending him flying backward onto his backside.
"I like how we're playing up front, on both sides of the ball," said Starr, who singled out seniors Udarius Strawter (6-foot-5, 330) and Tadarius Covington (6-2, 300) as leaders. "That's the big difference in us right now from the start of the season, and I'd be lying if I said we didn't talk about the playoffs and think about that now.
"We're not solely focused on that, but the playoffs would be huge for this community and this team."
Going into tonight's games there is a four-team logjam, each with one loss, in Region 3-3A, including Howard. The winner between CCS and Howard will move into better position to claim one of the four playoff spots, but at the expense of beating a good friend.
"The coaching world is a tight fraternity, but we're even closer than that," Mariakis said of Starr. "John has been to both my daughters' weddings, he was there for me when my dad passed away and was one of the first calls I got when I had to have surgery to remove a tumor. He's like family.
"Some of my best years coaching have been spent with him, and I know this will be a very tough game."
Starr agreed, adding that it will be tough in more ways than one.
"I know his team will be well coached, and that's one of the reasons I haven't gotten a restful night's sleep all week," Starr said. "I have so much respect for him and the way he coaches, and it's just kind of an emotional deal going up against each other."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis