This is an opinion piece.

After winning back-to-back national championships Monday night, Georgia coach Kirby Smart talked about the keys to keeping his Bulldogs at the top.

“Just hard work,” he said. “We don’t run from hard work. Our kids don’t run from hard work. As long as you don’t have entitlement in your program, you’ve got a chance.”

The word “entitlement” is defined as “having a right to something.”

It is what Saraland coach Jeff Kelly says he also will have to guard against in his program in the coming days and weeks.

The Spartans went 14-1 this past fall, won the Class 6A state title for the first time and, on Thursday, watched as star player Ryan Williams was named the state’s Mr. Football by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

Williams, an Alabama commit, is only a sophomore. Quarterback KJ Lacey, running back Santae McWilliams and fellow wide receiver CD Gill also are sophomores on an extremely young championship team.

Saraland had just 14 seniors on the 2022 roster. Depending on the alignment, as few as three or as many as five seniors started a particular game.

It was hard to know exactly what to expect from the Spartans with such a young roster entering 2022. Entering next fall, the expectation level is pretty clear.

And pretty high.

“How you handle success is always a concern,” Kelly said. “You hear a lot about how teams and people handle adversity, and that is important in everything you do. Now, we have to talk about how to handle success. You’ve got so many people patting you on the back.

“Our guys have done a good job coming back from the holidays of flushing last season and moving forward. It will be our focus in the offseason. It’s something we will talk about daily. If we are not getting better, someone will catch us. We have to be better, have to be more efficient in how we practice.”

Saraland outscored its competition 645-291 in 2022. Williams accounted for 42 total touchdowns. Lacey threw for 3,177 yards and 40 TDs and was intercepted just 5 times. McWilliams rushed for 1,484 yards and 16 scores.

“We are fortunate in the fact that we have the kind of guys on our roster who want to be the best, who want to compete,” Kelly said. “But we can’t relax one bit. There are a lot of good teams out there, a lot of good teams in our region. We have a lot of experience coming back, but our goal is to be better this year than we ever thought about being last year.”

Former in-state stars getting their chance

It’s been a good offseason so far for some homegrown coaches.

Former Vigor standout and B.C. Rain head coach Brent Dearmon was named head coach at the University of North Alabama last month. Earlier this week, former Blount quarterback Aaron James officially was introduced as head coach at Tuskegee.

After graduating from Vigor, Dearmon was a four-year starting quarterback at Bethel University (Tenn.). He later returned to Mobile and served as offensive coordinator for Vigor from 2008-2010, helping the Wolves win the 5A championship in 2008. His first head coaching job came at Rain (2011-2012) before he returned to college coaching.

Dearmon’s first staff at UNA also includes two of my favorite players ever to cover on the high school level – Spanish Fort’s Thomas Johnston, the AHSAA’s all-time leading tackler, and Deshaun Davis of Vigor, who went on to an all-SEC LB career at Auburn. Many of you are aware that myself and Deshaun did a low-budget – I filmed it on my first I-Phone — video show in his senior year at Vigor, the popular “Down with Deshaun.” (It was popular in my mind anyway, and that was before we — thankfully — became much higher tech at AL.com).

I got to know DeShaun personally as we toured Mobile and Baldwin County high schools to interview area prospects. He had plenty of time because he missed his senior year due to a torn ACL. The little adventure helped DeShaun stay involved when he couldn’t play and provided good content for AL.com. It still is one of my neatest work memories in the last decade or so.

James starred at quarterback at Tuskegee from 1998-2001 after leaving Blount. He went 42-5 as a starter. He was my go-to Tuskegee quote when I was covering the Golden Tigers for the Montgomery Advertiser. He spent time as an offensive coordinator at Bethune-Cookman and Miles College before returning to his alma mater in 2021 as OC. He was named the coach-in-waiting last June when Reginald Ruffin announced he was stepping down following the 2022 season. He was officially introduced as the head coach this week.

Good luck all. I’m pulling for you.

The coaching carousel

At least three pretty important Class 6A football jobs opened in the last 10 days.

Blount, Murphy and Pinson Valley all have joined the list of Alabama high schools looking for head coaches.

If you missed it, here is some of the recent coaching news:

John McKenzie is leaving Murphy after one year. He was approved as the new head coach at Class 6A Paul Bryant. McKenzie won a state title at Vigor in 2021.

Blount is looking for a new direction after one year under Josh Harris. The Leopards are looking for their fourth head coach in as many seasons.

Former Auburn wide receiver Lee Guess stepped down after one year at Pinson Valley, citing his struggle balance the responsibilities of a head coach at that level with family responsibilities.

Philip Bailey has resigned as head coach at Class 5A Jasper. He went 13-18 in three seasons there. The Vikings were 5-6 last year, losing at Moody in the first round of the playoffs.

On Friday, Pike Liberal Arts announced Phillip Coggins as its new AD and head football coach. Coggins had been defensive coordinator at Chilton County.

Other programs currently searching for a head coach include McGill-Toolen, Bayside Academy, Citronelle, Smiths Station, Slocomb, Wilcox Central, Anniston, Clarke County, Oak Mountain and Westbrook Christian.

Thought for the week

“We are caught in an economy of attention and the Lord is trying to break in.” – Passion 2023.

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. His weekly column is posted each Wednesday and Friday on AL.com. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays