
A little over a week ago Bryant Frye was named the new head coach of the Trenton football program.
He’s made a lot of phone calls since he was hired.
One of his calls was to someone he coached against when he was the girls basketball coach at Trenton.
Frye was able to get some advice from Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram, who defeated Frye and the Lady Tigers in the 2021 FHSAA Girls Basketball Class 1A state semifinals, 43-32.
Ingram’s Hornets lost to Ponce De Leon, 40-37, that year but went on to win back-to-back state titles in girls basketball (2023 and 2024) after winning their first in program history in 2020. Ingram also won consecutive state titles at Hawthorne in football (2022 and 2023).
Frye will have an opportunity to do what Ingram has been able to do, win a state title in two different sports at his alma mater.
Trenton won the Class 1A girls basketball state championship in 2019 with a 43-31 win against Holmes County (Bonifay) in the title game. It was the Lady Tigers’ (27-3) first state title since 1980 and their third title overall.
He ran off a streak of 90 straight wins against district competition and led the Lady Tigers to their seventh straight league title in 2022 during his final year of coaching.
Frye replaces Cameron Porch, who was 10-22 in three seasons with the Tigers’ football program.
“He’s a local guy, graduated from Trenton High School so we’re tickled to death to have someone like that to come in,” said Trenton Athletics Director Pat Burton. “He’s a proven head coach. He’s coached our girls basketball team and won a state championship and went to another final four, so his coaching ability is top-notch.”
Frye stepped away from coaching to be a dad, but the itch returned, especially when the opportunity to be the head football coach at his former school became available.
“Most guys want the dream of doing that and I’m really excited and I’m ready to go for the challenge ahead,” he said.
He has coached different levels of football from rec ball for 10 years to semipro football in the area.
In the 90s, he was an assistant coach at Trenton (defensive backs and wide receivers coach).
He was the JV head football coach for a while but as far as actual varsity head football coaching this is his first stint.
“I’ve always loved coaching,” Frye said. “I like mentoring young individuals, just like I did in basketball.”
He got his first head coaching stint at Newberry High School as a girls basketball coach but after one year, his alma mater called him and he became head coach of the Lady Tigers.
Frye said he thinks his mentality of coaching and building a program on the hardwood floor will carry onto the gridiron.
“When I got to Trenton with the girls basketball program they were a good program, been to the playoffs a couple of times, but I think my discipline and structure that I bring to any organization that I coach is first and foremost,” he said. “I think anything that you do in life or anything in general, you’ve got to have that discipline and structure. Sometimes in football, especially with unsportsmanlike penalties, people have emotions, and you have to corral that, so I think that the opportunity that I get to bring for these young men I’m excited to do and I’m ready to go.”
Frye is not an unknown commodity so from a community standpoint, the small town of Trenton has embraced the hiring. Frye has received an overwhelming number of phone calls and texts showing their support and confidence in the new coach.
“If you haven’t really coached in a small community and been a part of it, it’s different than the bigger schools,” Frye said. “A lot of expectations, but I’m happy.”
The first order of business is to put together a coaching staff, although his first hire was strength and conditioning coach Edwin “Truck” Brown.
He has reached out to several alums, including coaches from the Trenton state championship teams of 2013 and 2015 which were coached by current Union County (Lake Butler) coach Andrew Thomas.
“One of my first phone calls was to Andrew,” Frye said. “We joked a little bit because I was the girls basketball coach when he was here and I announced (PA) his football games. One of the things that I relish as a coach is the relationships.”
Frye plans on hiring both an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator but will assume the play-calling duties if he hasn’t hired an assistant before spring football. He’s not in a hurry as much as hiring the right individual.
“In your small schools sometimes you have to evaluate the talent, and that offensive scheme will probably have to change a little bit based on who comes out and what you have talent-wise to be able to do it,” he said.
Almost 70 kids signed up (grades 6-12) and are excited about “rejuvenating the program.” They had their first workout last Thursday.
“I told them I’m a new coach so at this juncture everything is a clean slate, and we have to work hard,” said Frye, a 1989 graduate of Trenton who played backup quarterback, wide receiver and outside linebacker for the Tigers. “I want to integrate some of the older methods to the newer methods. I won’t say I’m that bridge, but I want them to know where they’re coming from to where they are now.”
A big part of the job besides the Xs and Os is fundraising. That’s something that is a strength of the new head football coach.
“He’s a real go-getter,” Burton said. “He’s got connections in the community so we’re hoping that’s going to bring our community support back. There’s a new excitement in the program. Bryant is very enthusiastic. He’s just nonstop. He’s going to help us out a lot.”
Frye said he tips his cap to the job that Ingram has done with such a small community.
“He’s done a fantastic job, and I’ve idolized him for a while,” Frye said. “It’s so important to have the funds, especially for football because just the equipment alone, your helmets and your shoulder pads, cost so much money. But this community here, whether it be the softball program, when I was coaching girls basketball, or the football program, this community is phenomenal about supporting and I commend them for being so generous to all of the sports.”
The players will have to buy in, but in order to be successful there has to be a foundation.
“It’s like building a house, if you don’t build from the bottom up, you’re not going to have any success,” Frye said. “We’ve got a lot of young men that don’t get an opportunity to get on the field and play. We have to start thinking about how we need a middle school team, we need a JV team.
”Each level needs to play a little bit because it’s hard to go from sixth grade to ninth grade if you haven’t really played and you’ve never been on the field to learn it and do it. That goes back to having enough coaches on staff so you can have three different levels.”