Dawkins one game away from win #500

Chances are Wally Dawkins will reach a coaching milestone - his 500th career win - over the next couple of days as the Wildcats host Athens tomorrow night and Chapel Hill on Saturday. Following in the footsteps of mentor C.L. Nix, who had over 600 wins in more than 30 years of coaching, Dawkins attributes much of his success to the strength the program.

"Around here, the cupboard is never bare," said Dawkins. "I've just been real fortunate that every year I get a good team and great young men." This will be Dawkins' 26th year as a head coach and 18th season at Whitehouse. He assisted Coach Nix for two years before taking the reins of an already successful program, and has kept that tradition alive.

The team has not had a losing season under his leadership, though Dawkins downplays his role. "Sometimes the role of the coach is overrated," he said, adding that he has benefited from Coach Nix's philosophy.

"Coach Nix had the game figured out," he explained. "A lot of coaches want to make things too complicated, but he didn't." Although Dawkin said "the

win" is not really talked about, he is proud that he's been able to coach long enough to have that type of success.

"I never dreamed I'd still be around," said Dawkins, expressing thanks to the administration and board for his tenure.

"The Whitehouse community is an excellent place to live and work. There are good people here," he said. "I would never want to be anywhere else."

Even with the winning numbers, Dawkins said a coach will never make everybody happy.

"It kinda makes going to Brookshire's an adventure," he

said. "Sometimes I look down the bread aisle first to see who's there."

Dawkins has a lot of great memories from his career, but if there were a special moment it would be coaching his son.

"As a dad, that was real special to me," he said.

As for the upcoming games, Dawkins is more concerned about the season than "the win."

"It would mean a lot more for us to win 30 games, than for me to get 500," he said, though as it turns out, he can't have one without the other.