Darius Robinson gets into things leading spring football drills in front of an audience at Greene County High’s football stadium. (Matthew Brown/The Union-Recorder)

After coaching success in his home region of the Carolinas, Darius Robinson wanted to get a feel of what it’s like to work where football is king. So a couple of years ago, it was bye-bye Carolina, hello Georgia.

And after two years in the hottest spot – literally and figuratively – in Georgia as an assistant, Robinson is a head coach once again taking over the Tigers of Greene County High going into the 2025 season.

Originally from North Carolina, Robinson got into high school coaching after playing on the defensive line. So he starts with the offensive line, then defensive backs, and he said that was a blessing in making him learn about positions in football he knew nothing about. He spent four years as a defensive coordinator, and his units would give up averages of 15, 12 and 9 points a game.

“I got my first head job in North Carolina at the age of 28,” said Robinson. “That first year, I won Coach of the Year. The only time we lost (at home) was in the region championship that first year.”

The school was J.M. Robinson High, which had a 1-10 record the previous season. That first year only consisted of seven games due to COVID-19.

“We knew we had something brewing,” said Robinson. “We came back the following two years, 10-win seasons back-to-back, region champions. That’s when I wanted to get into a state that put football on the pedestal.”

Robinson wound up joining Shelton Felton at Valdosta High School, taking a step back to take a leap forward, as he put it. He was a Wildcat assistant for two years, and now it’s back to being a head coach in Greensboro.

“I couldn’t be more ecstatic,” said Robinson. There were geographic reasons for coming to Greene County, a much closer ride to visit home at the North Carolina-South Carolina line.

“I put family in high regard,” he said. “Another thing, me spending most of my adult life in the Charlotte metro area, it’s like a mini-Atlanta. I can get a little bit of a city fix riding an hour to Atlanta.

“The last thing is Greene County as a whole. Talking about the athletic director and the principal, it was complete alignment. Our visions are all the same on the next steps for the football program. I got that small-town south Georgia feel right here without having to be in the hottest part in the country where the gnats are the size of your fist.

“I get everything I want in a location I want. If we win a lot of games and folks like me, I can be around here a long time.”

Greene County football has had its ups and downs, mostly ups lately with three straight winning seasons after three years of seven wins combined. The last region championship was in 2018.

“Folks bought in early,” said Robinson about his time getting to know Tiger players and building a coaching staff. “It was tough finding coaches, but once we found that great nucleus of guys, the kids came and they worked. We challenged them to get here in the morning before school opens. We turned the stadium lights on and were on the field at 6:30, 6:45 in the morning.

“We knew we had to work. Greene County graduated a lot of talent (from 2024’s 8-3 team). Greene County is going to pick up and play football in August again. These guys challenged themselves to want to be ready. Now it’s up to us coaches to make sure they are ready.”

Robinson knows new coaches will bring in new styles, new routines, and it can make for a rough transition. He wants practices to be fast-paced and demanding. He said, in time, things started to click. There was less thinking and more flying around, playing football.

Then, before they know it, the calendar is in late October to early November, and Greene County is in the hunt for a region championship and state playoff berth.