State-championship-winning coach hoping to instill winning standard at Jackson High
With the sun setting off in the west, the football players at Miami Jackson High School are somewhere they aren’t used to being at that time of day — still on the practice field.
Max Edwards is not a happy camper.
Not after what he’s seen on the field and he’s about to let his players know it.
He calls them together and gives them a tonguelashing laced with plenty of colorful language.
“I can’t believe what
I’m seeing out there,” he yells. “I’m not used to this. This isn’t the world that I come from. I come from a world where kids work their tails off to get to the top so if all of you aren’t willing to do that around here, you can haul your tail right out of here because I don’t have a place for you on this team.”
Welcome Jackson Generals, to the world of Max Edwards and to a bar of achievement set much higher than you’ve been used to.
Edwards has the caché to throw around.
He’s arrived at Jackson with enough state championship rings to wear on all but one of his fingers.
Edwards has nine titles as either a head coach, defensive coordinator or positions coach with for three different programs, Booker T. Washington, Miami Central and Miami Northwestern, over the last two decades.
“I certainly know what’s in front of me and it’s definitely going to take some time — this will not happen overnight,” said Edwards following that long recent practice. “The first goal out of the box is to get these kids to practice to win. For the last few years they’ve been practicing to lose. Also, to be good teammates to each other. Right now they’re a good bunch of kids — good teammates who don’t steal from each other and help each other out. They’re basically doing what we want them to do but they just aren’t the top athletes that we need to win the way we used to win at the other programs.”
He’s got that right. Edwards, who comes from a coaching tree of championship royalty, takes over a Jackson program that might be one of the most historically underachieving programs over the last half century. The Generals, in fact, might be the best program not only to have never won a state title, but not even appear in a state championship game.
The last time Jackson got close was when former USF quarterback Quinton Flowers led the Generals to a state semifinal in 2012. Before that, state semifinal losses in 1998 and 2000 marked their only other flirtation with state titles.
Beyond that, not much. Constantly losing the turf war battle for innercity talent to the likes of Booker T. Washington, Central and Northwestern among others. They also haven’t won a Soul Bowl
with traditional rival Northwestern in over a decade.
It’s something that Edwards is hoping to change but something he knows is going to take time.
“So number one, what I’m trying to do first and foremost is learn to stay patient and happy in dealing with the kids,” Edwards said. “There will be growing pains for sure but I think we will get better as the season goes on because they’re a good group of kids with a good attitude. I just have to change the bad habits and it takes time to do that. The bar is so low around here and where I come from the bar is set very high so that’s where the
patience is going to have to come in.”
As a first time head coach, Edwards immediately led Northwestern to three consecutive state titles from 2017-19, the program’s fifth, sixth and seventh state titles but the first three-peat. After that came postseason berths including a run to the state semis in 2021.
Edwards found out that Bulls Nation settles only for state titles and not deep playoff runs as he was relieved of his duties following the 2022 season.
He then teamed up with his old mentor, Tim “Ice” Harris last season as Booker T.’s defensive coordinator. But when the Jackson job came open,
Edwards was ready to jump back in the head coach’s seat. A half dozen players transferred to Jackson from either BTW or Northwestern since.
“Coach Max, he’s a great coach, I followed him over here because I like his scheme and his playing style,” said senior defensive end Marcus Patterson, a Booker T. transfer. “I feel like I can win with him. He’s just a great coach because he not only wins, but he’s got a great personality — funny — somebody you just really want to go out there and play for.”
Edwards knows having a good coaching staff could be the most important thing in getting things turned around in the right direction. He has brought in two — offensive coordinator Alwan Lee and defensive coordinator Scott Daniels — from his days at Miami Central when they all coached under Roland Smith.
“Coach Max coming over here will take this program up a couple of levels,” said Lee, who quarterbacked Booker T. to its first state championship in 2007. “We have new additions that have come into the building and he’s got a great résumé, 12 times in the state championship game and nine state championships. The kids just want to be around that winning mentality, he knows how to take a program to a higher level.”
Jackson’s first game with Edwards at the helm is Aug. 17 when the Generals play Carol City in a preseason game at 5:30 p.m. at Traz Powell Stadium as part of the 2024 Miami Super Showdown High School Football Classic.
Edwards is trying to keep things realistic as far as goals for this season.
“We’d like to have a winning season and make the postseason,” Edwards said. “It’s going to be hard but I told them it’s something to strive for and something we can accomplish. I know the teams that we play are excited because they think they’re going to whip on us and I’m okay with that. I just tell the kids we’re going to get off the bus as a family, get back on the bus as a family and we’ll let the results show on the field.”