A South Florida native, Michael Timpson is familiar with high school football in the area.
Former NFL wide receiver Michael Timpson is the new head football coach and athletic director at Inlet Grove. (Photo courtesy of Twitter)
But the Hialeah-Miami Lakes graduate and former Penn State and NFL wide receiver admits he has plenty to learn as Inlet Grove’s new football coach.
“The challenging part for me is to get a sense of where the players are and where they’ve been,” said Timpson, a fourth-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 1989. He also played for the Bears and Eagles during his nine-year NFL career.
“I’m really trying to learn where we need to improve. It’s just evaluation over the course of the spring.”
Timpson, who also serves as Inlet Grove’s athletic director, took over the Hurricanes’ head coaching position from Terry Bradden in April.
Bradden, an Inlet Grove alum, stepped down in March to take a position as a graduate assistant at Bethune-Cookman University.
The Hurricanes finished 1-8 last season, winning their first game in more than two years.
Timpson hopes to build on that achievement, though he says it will take time.
“I’m not trying to win the championship during the spring,” he said. “I’m trying to learn what the kids do best and plug them into positions where they can do their very best.”
Timpson said the difficult part of stepping in as a new coach is getting the players to believe in themselves.
“Sometimes you have kids who haven’t played for a certain period of time, or they come from different backgrounds and they just feel they can’t do some things,” he said. “Sometimes their self-esteem is low as well.”
Timpson hopes to change that. He will hold summer workouts for his players – 35 participated in spring practice – and looks forward to a strong start in the fall.
He also plans to grow the school’s other athletic teams.
“My goal is not only to build the football program,” he said. “I really want to put the athletic program on good footing. That is a very high priority of mine, to really get the athletic programs at Inlet Grove up to a certain standard.”
