Following His Call

Coaching was never in Rodney Saulsberry’s plan.

The current head coach of the Whitehaven Tigers in Memphis, Tenn. was a mathematics major in college and planned to work in insurance or finance once he graduated. Plans are meant to change though and the football field came calling.

Now, after six years as an assistant at his alma mater and 18 years as a head coach, Saulsberry has amassed 175 wins, two state titles and has sent over 200 kids to play football in college.

But, his impact has been felt off the field as much as it has on it, making him the perfect recipient for the American Football Coaches Association Power of Influence award.

“I’m just grateful for being in a position to help young men use the game of football to change their lives,” Saulsberry said. “I say that this thing was laid out by my head coach in high school, Stan Collins, and to be able to continue that legacy of using football as a vehicle of change, as a means to an end, to further educational opportunities. That’s the mission he had for us and to be able to continue that legacy and just create positive members of society through the game of football is just an honor and a privilege.”

After finishing high school, Saulsberry attend Austin Peay University where he attained a degree in mathematics. Upon graduation, he ended up following his original plan for a short period of time but said his life changed after teaching a summer program. 

Saulsberry said that when he was in high school, his former principal always used to ask his parents when he was going to come back to teach at Whitehaven.

“I guess he saw something in me as a student that he knew that teaching would be the pathway that I would take,” Saulsberry said. “I guess he was prophetic in that sense because once I started teaching I just fell in love with it. Along with teaching I always had a love for the game of football and coaching went along with it. So the rest is just history.”

Saulsberry combined his two loves, teaching and football, when he joined the Whitehaven coaching staff in 1998. He also had the opportunity to coach under two people that he has known for most of his life.

He first coached under his current principal, Dr. Vincent Hunter, and then when Hunter moved into administration, Saulsberry became the defensive coordinator and coached under one of his best friends, Maurice Harris.

Then, when Harris moved onto the college ranks Saulsberry took the next step in his career and it was one he didn’t necessarily want at first.

“Initially, I was not interested in the (head coaching) job but after sitting down with Dr. Hunter, I just saw the vision that no one else from the outside was going to come in and run the program,” Saulsberry said. “So I just went full force into it and prepared to become the head coach.”

Since taking over in 2004, Saulsberry has tallied an overall record of 175-43 and the Tigers captured their first state title in 2012 and added another in 2016. After learning from both Hunter and Harris, Saulsberry wanted to find a happy medium from both of their coaching styles but he also wanted to put his own stamp on the program.

“I had a stated vision of being for the young men and making sure we’re helping promote the young men and working with the young men and molding them,” Saulsberry said. “But we wanted to make our program and the things that we’ve accomplished all be known nationally. We had a successful program and we are always putting kids into college. But I wanted that recognition to just go across the country and know what work we’re doing. Along with that, we wanted to win the state championship and combine that with what we’re doing off the field with our student-athletes, preparing them to go to college and be productive citizens.”

The Tigers have won consistently, but along with creating a winning product on the field, Saulsberry said that he and his coaching staff have always focused on their athletes being students first. They stress academics and they have a session every year where they break down what it takes to be a college athlete, what courses they have to take, and what their GPA needs to be. Saulsberry puts the choice of playing at the next level into his players’ hands.

“We make it a stated goal that if you don’t meet these goals, it’s not because you didn’t know, you just made a choice not to abide by those rules or not abide by those guidelines,” Saulsberry said. “So, we want to expose our kids to where they understand what it takes to use football as a vehicle of change to get a college education and then talk to them about all the various opportunities that are out there.”

From 2011 to 2018, Saulsberry and the Tigers hit their stride as they were looking to build up the program to where they wanted it. At the high school level, sustaining success over a long period of time is difficult because each year is different. Seniors graduate and freshmen join the team and the key to keeping that consistency is having a process in place.

Saulsberry said that he learned to trust the process from Alabama football coach Nick Saban.

“We’ve just seen over time that when you don’t follow the process and you don’t take it step-by-step, you don’t have success,” Saulsberry said. “So we had a successful run there where we continued to follow the process. Unfortunately, COVID kind of interrupted that and it just kind of broke the cycle a little bit.”

During that cycle, Saulsberry and the Tigers captured the program’s first state title in school history, beating Maryville 36-35 in overtime. Saulsberry said it was a dream come true for both him and the program, especially with how it ended, going for a two-point conversion in overtime.

“Having a big moment like that where if you don’t make it you lose and if you make it you win, it was something of a penultimate moment,” Saulsberry said. “The surreal moment was that I knew we had it before the play even happened. I knew we were going to win. So I was prepared to celebrate before we even crossed the goal line.”

That feeling didn’t come from a sense of cockiness but rather a sense of positivity, which is something that Saulsberry preaches to his players daily.

The Tigers have a saying which they call G.P.A. — Be Grateful, Be Positive, Be Accountable. Saulsberry says that those are three things that they try to be every day, along with following their daily affirmations.

“The affirmations just are, I’m grateful for the opportunity to play football. I’m aggressive and relentless. I have no fear of losing and making mistakes, and I will never ever give up,” Saulsberry said. “So those four positive affirmations, I can repeat them, they learn them, they say them every day as we end practice.”

On top of that, Saulsberry and the Tigers also follow an acronym that is inspired by their mascot. As Tigers, they are tough, intelligent, grateful, eager to learn, relentless and strong.

“If you say those every day, they just become a part of your DNA.”

Regardless of the outcome on the field, the goal always remains the same for Saulsberry. He wants to mold his players into men and prepare them for the next steps in their lives as his former coaches did for him.

According to Saulsberry, that will never change.

“Our mission is to help kids and help these young men, student-athletes, use football to further opportunities to change their lives and change their circumstances,” Saulsberry said. “I’ve just been blessed through my tenure as head coach there have been over 200 athletes that have gone on to play college football and that’s something that I take pride in. To be able to continue to give young men opportunities to go to college and get the opportunity to use this game to change their lives and get on a trajectory where they can really help themselves.”