Joel Harvin left his home for Putnam County.

Harvin was the head football coach for his alma mater, where he once led the gridiron squad to a state championship game as the starting quarterback, but he made a career decision because he saw something special happening in the Lake Country.

At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Shaun Pope stepped down as Putnam County High’s head football coach after leading the War Eagles to their first undefeated regular season since the early 1970s and only the third region championship since 1977 in 2021. In five seasons, Pope’s record was 38-19.

In steps Harvin, whose head coaching career began in 2017 when he succeeded his own high school coach, Trey Woolf, at Early County High. His playing career at Early County was highlighted by the 2001 season when the Bobcats went 13-2, both losses coming to Americus High. That included the Class AA state championship game.

After high school, Harvin attended, but did not play at, Valdosta State, and like most college students he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

“The more I thought about it, I started thinking about how I enjoyed sports,” he said. “The second thing was how much I enjoyed working with younger people and trying to help them out sports-wise. I felt that was my calling, to be a football coach or any type of coach. I’ve coached baseball and basketball.

“A lot of that goes back to my dad being my pee-wee coach, but always staying on top of me and pushing me to be the best I could in any sport I played. To try and be a little bit like him, I guess you would say.”

Harvin had a choice to make towards the end of his college career, become a graduate assistant coach with the Blazer program or take a full-time job in Dothan, Alabama.

“Ended up taking the money,” he said. “It looked good at the time. Looking back, I probably should have put in more time in learning more. But as a young man coming out of school, being broke all the time, you want to start your own career.”

Deciding on physical education as a major at Valdosta State, Harvin did practical teaching, and on the side he would give quarterback lessons. He certainly felt qualified from all the camps he attended growing up that he knew everything there was about the position. In Dothan, his first main job was P.E. teacher in elementary school while coaching in high school.

“Being at that age when you are seeing kids learn how to throw and catch, I felt like a big part of their lives,” said Harvin. “It grew from there.”

The high school was Northview, and he was receivers coach. Year by year he moved to passing game coordinator to quarterbacks to offensive coordinator. He admits this was not one of the premiere high school programs in Alabama, but it is the school where Mike Dubose went in 2002 for one year after leaving the University of Alabama. Dubose did not win a game in that one season.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of things while we were there,” said Harvin. “We made the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. We ended up setting a lot of scoring records, a lot of total yards records.

“You get to a certain position at a school and you feel like you did as much as you could possibly do there, and it’s time to move on. Luckily, at the same time, coach Woolf retired. I applied for the job and ended up getting it.”

Harvin would go on to spend six seasons as Early County’s head coach. The Bobcat program had fallen on hard times since going 11-3 and making the state semifinals in 2006. Early had only three winning records, the last in 2015, afterwards and won just once in Woolf’s final season.

“I felt like that was my thing, to try to build it up the best I could,” said Harvin. “Fortunately, we had some good players come through. We didn’t make the playoffs my first year (2-8). It was a long year trying to get things settled in.”

But the Bobcats made the playoffs the next five years in a row, the longest streak in school history. Harvin went 33-32 overall with a 9-4 mark last season that ended in the quarterfinals of Class A Division II. He believes that team had what it took to win the state championship.

Even though he was home in Blakely, Harvin said he again got that feeling he had done all he could for Early County football, especially leaving it in good hands for their next coach.

“I got to talking to guys at Putnam,” he said. “The situation this place has got set up as far as football facilities and everything else, it was too good an opportunity to turn down and not be a part of. I told the kids the first time I met with them, ‘I’m leaving my hometown. I’m leaving my high school and stepping out of my comfort zone because I feel like Putnam is ready to take that next step.’ That’s why I made the jump.”

Being the head coach isn’t a position suitable for everyone who gets into the profession, but Harvin brought up a saying that everyone in coaching should be a head coach at least one time. As the first-year head man at Early, he described himself as “young and dumb” but also “the next Nick Saban.”

“I had to learn a lot that first year,” he said. “I was trying to do stuff the kids weren’t capable of doing. I ended up thinking after that first year what do I need to do differently, how can I adjust, what can the school do to help me and get everything set up for our kids can be successful. We ended up getting it done.”

His Bobcats even played at Putnam County in 2020’s playoffs winning 48-7.

“You think you want to be (a head coach). When you’re in that seat, and you have all these situations that come up and everything is on your shoulders, it can be a stressful time if you are not prepared,” he said. “I’m glad I had that (first year) and got it out of the way. I think it made me better as a coach.

“I’m not a first-year head coach coming to Putnam. I understand what goes with the job. Through those six years, I’ve learned what other programs are doing that can help you be a successful football team. I’m excited to get started.

“Coach Pope and I talked quite a bit since we played them. His coaches have done a great job here in establishing a little bit of tradition and expectation to win and win big.”

Defending state champion in Class AA, Thomson, is in Putnam’s region. That’s one obstacle for the War Eagles to figure out, to believe in themselves when playing the best out there.