VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- Phillip Sims is no stranger to head coaching, but for the first time, he gets to lead a program in his own backyard. The Chesapeake native is kicking off his first season as the head coach at Princess Anne.
"It's kind of rebuilding a culture, rebuilding that excitement around the program that the kids want to come out and be a part of that program, but also understanding that there are standards to that." Sims said.
"The goal is to get as close to perfect as we possibly can," added senior linebacker and running back Emanuel Patten. "He's definitely brought a different mentality to this team than I've had in all my past years."
It's a mentality that Sims has carried with him since his playing days at Oscar Smith, when he would lead the Tigers to their first state championship in 2008. His 119 career touchdowns still stand as a state record. After college stops at Alabama, Virginia and Winston-Salem State, Sims would make it to the NFL. The head coach can draw from those experiences, but not replicate them.
"I feel like every situation is very different," Sims noted. "Every program's different, every community is different, so I can't exactly take the blueprint of Richard Morgan and of Oscar Smith and apply it to Princess Anne football."
Morgan was Sims head coach during his high school days at Smith.
With all of that said, he's no stranger to rebuilding. Sims would lead John Marshall and J.R. Tucker in the Richmond area to big improvements and now he looks to put his fingerprint on a Cavaliers' squad coming off an 0-10 campaign in 2022.
"After you get your butt whooped every Friday night, it's got to affect you in some kind of way," Patten said. "I feel like we use that as motivation and we just try to show everybody that's not who we're going to be this year and times have changed."
"Last year was last year," pointed out Sims. "I do know that, but we have to be very mindful that it did happen. Let's not act like it didn't happen. We need to remember it did, but we also need to know that we can't allow it to happen again."
So what has to happen for 2023 to be a success? Sims says the answer is simple— win.
"I'm a winner," he said. "I don't believe in anything but winning. That's just the way that I was brought up, that's the culture that I was raised in and I maintain that mentality throughout my coaching career."
Princess Anne opens its 2023 schedule on the road at Beach District rival Frank Cox on August 24.
