Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Cook coach Cornelius “Pig” Brown, whose first career game as a high school head coach ended in a 36-35 overtime upset of then-No. 2 Swainsboro in a Class 2A game. Brown’s team scored a late fourth-quarter touchdown to force overtime. Nole Register threw a 13-yard pass to Carter Morrison in the extra period, then hit Morrison again for a 2-point conversion for the victory.
1. Cook had a 21-7 lead over Swainsboro at halftime. What did you tell your team at halftime as you tried to close it out?
“I went in, and I applauded them, but I also humbled them real quick. I said, ‘The sad thing about this whole situation is you don’t play football in one half. We’ve got a whole another half to play.’ And I knew what type of team Swainsboro was and is going to be. I knew that lead wasn’t safe, and we came out in the second half. I wouldn’t say that we were complacent, but I would say they came out in the third quarter, and they were more physical than us, and they executed their play calls better than we did. They ended up going on a 21-point run to take the lead 28-21, but we just kind of stayed together, stayed the course, believed in each other, stuck with the game plan, and we just chewed away bit by bit until we could tie the game up and send it into overtime.”
2. What went into the decision to go for two in overtime and the play that was called?
“So, when they got the ball, they put in the ball in their best player’s hands (Florida linebacker commitment Ja’Bios Smith). They put him at running back, and man, they just came out and they just kind of pounded on us with inside zone. He’s 6-3, 220, so he just kind of came out, and their offensive line was firing off, and they just kind of pounded us and pounded that first touchdown in, and they made the extra point and went up 35-28. We got the ball back, and we were moving the ball pretty good, and in that situation where you’re on the road and you’re the underdog in a hostile environment like that in the first game of the season and nobody really expects you to be there but you, I said, ‘Why not, man?’ When we got the ball, I told the offense, ‘When we score, have your two-point play ready.’ It’s just a gamble that I took, man, and it worked out in our favor. We scored (the touchdown) on a tight end throwback, and then we faked that (on the two-point conversion) and booted out. The tight end ran a post-corner, kind of got the defense flowing one way and he just sprinted out the other way, and our quarterback made a heck of play.”
3. You’ve coached and played at Cook for years. How does this program look a little bit different under Coach Pig?
“(Former Cook coach Byron Slack, now at Brunswick) is a heck of a coach, and he did great things while he was here, and he’s going to do great things over in Brunswick, and he’s going to do great things when he leaves Brunswick. But I think our guys, they were not having fun the last few years, and I don’t know why. Maybe because we weren’t winning as much or some things didn’t go their way. A couple of guys quit, and a couple of guys moved away and things of that nature. So my main thing was we’re going to be tough on you, and we’re going to love. We’re going to criticize you, but we’re going to love you. But at the same time, we’re going to have fun. And if we’re not having fun, what are we doing? What’s your purpose? I tell the kids all the time, ‘What’s your purpose? Find something you love about this program, and you stick with it, and you finish what you started. I don’t care what it is. I don’t care if it’s the Friday breakfasts. I don’t care if it’s the pregame meals. I don’t care if it’s working out with your buddy in first period. I don’t care if it’s the sweatsuits. You find one thing you love about this program, and you make it fun, and that’s what we’ve been able to do.”
4. What is the origin story behind your nickname, “Pig” Brown?
“I’ve just had that name ever since I was a kid, and it just stuck with me, man. I’ve got four siblings, and we’ve all got crazy nicknames. I’ve got a sister, her nickname is Pooh. I’ve got a brother, his nickname is Boomer. I’ve got a brother, his nickname is Tank, and I’ve got another brother, his nickname is Rooster. So we’ve all got crazy nicknames, and it’s just a name that’s just stuck with me since I was a kid. It’s been with me all these years, all through my playing career and all through my coaching career, and I couldn’t be more proud of it.”
Note: Brown was a two-time AJC first-team all-state player (2001-02) and three-year starter who starred as a defensive back for Cook’s 2000 and 2001 semifinal teams that played in the Georgia Dome. He later played at Missouri and got NFL tryouts. He is a member of the Indoor Football League Hall of Fame.
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