Earthwind Moreland is hoping to hear cheers again, but this time at Grady Stadium, not a 60,000-seat NFL stadium.
Former NFL players often return to their high schools seeking coaching positions, and Moreland, Grady’s newest football coach, previously signed to several teams including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns as well as a formerdefensive back for the New England Patriots, is no exception. Moreland reached the peak of his football journey in 2005, replacing his high school class ring with a Super Bowl ring, and the Grady graduate has returned to school with a clipboard instead of a helmet.
“I’ve been a part of the Grady family as long as I’ve been on the face of this earth,” Moreland said. “This is my home, and I’m just delighted to be back here again.”
After the arguably its most disappointing season in recent memory, the team is counting on a young new coach with hopes of rejuvenating the program again.
“I’m going to try and use my experiences from my playing days and my coaching days, college, professional and just being an alumnus of Grady High School,” Moreland said. “Coach Millen did start a winning tradition here, so I just want to continue that.”
Moreland has had a long history in the world of sports, participating as both a player and a coach in baseball, basketball, football and track. Football was a major part of Moreland’s childhood, but as his career grew in the sport, he said he did not let anything get in the way of his success.
After graduating Grady in 1995, he played football at Georgia Southern University, where he was an All-Conference and All-American player. Starting out as a wide receiver, Moreland played in the National Football League for four years, where his coaches changed his position to defensive back.
After Moreland’s team, the Patriots, won a Super Bowl in 2005, he played for another four years in arena football with the Las Vegas Gladiators and Georgia Force. He was an assistant coach for Grady for five years and spent years in several different football coaching positions, including at North Atlanta and Westlake high schools. Moreland received his master’s in physical education at the University of West Georgia, and has been teaching at Heritage Academy Elementary School for the last five years.
On March 5 at a community meeting in the Grady theater, Superintendent Erroll Davis announced that an investigation had concluded that 14 players on Grady’s football team and their families used false addresses in order to attend Grady. Davis later announced personnel changes at Grady, which included hiring Moreland as the new football coach and physical education teacher for the 2014-15 school year.
Along with these announcements came several consequences of the address fraud. Not only must Grady forfeit all victories in the 2013 season, but the Georgia High School Association also placed the team on probation for next season, making the team ineligible for the state playoffs.
Former head coach Ronnie Millen was reassigned, and APS accussed him of interfering with the system’s investigation. Millen, who worked at Grady for 28 years and served as the head football coach since 2001, won his 100th game this past season but was forced to forfeit that victory as well.
“I know what [Millen] meant to this program and how he strived to build this program up,” Moreland said. “It’s an unfortunate situation, but I hope that xwe can pick up the pieces and move forward and continue to do the things that he had started here at Grady, which is the winning tradition.”
In the short time he has spent as a physical education teacher, many Grady football players feel that Moreland has already proven himself to be well liked and capable of filling the shoes of the former coach. His character, dedication and experience in the sport will prove to be beneficial in supporting the team in the future, freshman quarterback Caylin Newton said.
“He won’t necessarily change the future, because the future is already bright,” Newton said. “He will more so build our future to bigger and better things.”
Over a single decade, Moreland landed on seven different NFL rosters and made two trips to NFL Europe. He started in games for the defending world champion, the New England Patriots, ultimately winning a Super Bowl XXXIX ring.
“I’ll never forget the magical feeling I got when we won the Super Bowl,” Moreland said. “There are some people who have been in the league 20 years and never even reached a Super Bowl, and here I am with a ring.”
Moreland intended to return to Grady to coach with Millen this year, but with Millen’s reassignment, Moreland is prepared to step up as head coach of the team. Moreland said his past experiences in sports and in football have prepared him for what is to come in the future.
“This is my home,” Moreland said. “What better place to continue something and come behind someone who’s had the program going in the right direction? To continue the [winning tradition] and with it being at your own school is just amazing.”
Despite controversy surrounding the team in the last few months, Moreland is hopeful that Grady can put a good product on the field.
“Just because the team has gone through so much in these last few months, that doesn’t stop anything,” Moreland said. “You still have a lot of things that you have to look forward to, because it doesn’t mean recruiters won’t come in here. The biggest thing is to show people that we know how to overcome adversity because it won’t be the first time that you’ve gone through something and it won’t be the last time you go through some adversity.”
As a new face for the Grady football team, one of Moreland’s main goals is to always bring positive energy. Moreland said that with all the difficulties the players and parents have already faced, the most important thing is to go out into the community, letting them know that Grady is still here and in desperate need of support.
“I’m looking forward to building young men, getting them through this adversity and showing people that we can still overcome this kind of thing,” Moreland said. “I want everyone to know that Grady is here to stay.”
For some, there is nothing like the feeling of coming home when you have been away for a while. And for Earthwind Moreland, his journey away from home generated a successful career in the NFL and a Super Bowl ring. Moreland said that he must use his past experiences to be a leader in the new football program at Grady and knows exactly what must be done to successfully carry on a promising football team.
“My goal right now is to get this program off the ground from over the past few months of turmoil that it’s gone through,” Moreland said. “I want to just give it a good heartbeat and continue the winning ways of Grady football.”
