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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

Considering his background, it seemed natural that Will McPherson would gravitate toward the coaching world.

While McPherson did indeed eventually decide that being a football coach was his calling, it took him a while to reach that realization.

“I think I tried to buck it for a while,” said McPherson, whose father Randy McPherson was a head football coach for more than 20 years while winning 252 career games and four state championships. “When I was about 22, I decided that’s actually what I wanted to do.”

McPherson has been a part of some ultra-successful programs over the years, and most recently he was an assistant coach at Lee County when the team won a state championship in 2018.

Now, McPherson has joined the Troup High football program as a linebackers coach, and he’ll be on the sidelines when the team opens the season on Aug. 21 at Harris County.

“It looked like a good opportunity to come in and work for a program that has a chance to win a lot of games,” McPherson said about his decision to come to Troup. “They’ve been good lately, and it seemed like a good fit.”

McPherson knows what it’s like to be a part of championship programs.

When McPherson was in middle school, he watched his father lead Madison County (Fla.) to a state championship.

Randy McPherson took over the Lowndes High program in 2002, and Will McPherson was an offensive lineman on the team when it won back-to-back state championships in 2004 and 2005.

After Will McPherson left high school, Randy McPherson led Lowndes to another state title in 2007.

After graduating from Valdosta State, Will McPherson coached at Camden County, Worth County, Cook County and Lee County.

“Will came from Lee County,

which is a top-notch program in the state in Georgia, and he decided he wanted to come to Troup,” said Tanner Glisson, Troup High’s head coach. “That says a lot about where we are as a program. So we’re really tickled to death. We felt like we were missing one piece on defense, and hopefully he provides that.”

As for being the son of one of the state’s most successful coaches, Glisson said McPherson is “very humble about his background and his pedigree. He wants to make his own mark in coaching which is absolutely fantastic. You can’t ignore the great roots that he has. That’s part of who he is. His dad being a Hall of Fame coach in my book. So we’re lucky to have him.”

Glisson added that “knowing he grew up around the Lowndes program, knowing he was at Camden County and knowing he was in Lee County. I felt like he’s grown up in this profession the right way.”

McPherson is appreciative of the coaches who have supported him and mentored him over the years, including his father.

“It’s almost too many to name,” McPherson said of his coaching influences. “Yes my dad, but I’ve been around it so long, there were so many others I had a chance to learn from, too, just growing up around it.”

McPherson officially became a member of the Troup staff in the middle of April, and he’s yet to see his players in person.

That will change next week, with Troup able to begin summer conditioning thanks to a recent decision by the Georgia High School Association.

“There’s really no precedent for this,” said McPherson, referring to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “Everybody will be glad to be here.”

In addition to coaching linebackers, McPherson will also help out with special teams.