Bacon eager to have Spring Valley tasting wins
R.J. Bacon knows there are pros and cons about having his father as a head football coach.
But the Spring Valley receiver/kicker said he was all smiles when he found out his father Robin would be calling the shots for the Vikings for his senior season. Robin Bacon was named the interim coach at Spring Valley in January when Jerry Brown stepped down after one season.
“It’s hard. You can’t get away with anything especially when it is your dad,” R.J. Bacon said. “But it’s good because it makes me better and makes our team better.”
Coach Robin Bacon says it’s is a tough balance separating the coach and father relationship, but his son has shown the ability to handle it over the years.
“It’s unlucky being a coaches’ kid. You get yelled at practice and yelled at home,” Robin Bacon said. “But he has been around practices since he was 2-years old. He knows what is expected more than anyone and tries to lead by example.”
This will be Robin Bacon’s first chance to be a head coach again since he left A.C. Flora after 10 seasons following the 2008 season. He spent the past five seasons as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator.
Bacon said there were other opportunities to be a head coach elsewhere, but staying in the Richland County Two school district was important to him. He wanted R.J. and his daughter, Linnea, a senior on the Spring Valley soccer team, to finish their careers in the same school district he grew up.
“This is where I want to be and where I want to finish my career. I couldn’t ask for a better school,” Bacon said Wednesday following the team’s first practice in pads. “Every coach has options to do something, and mine was to stay here. I’m excited about taking back over.
“I’m going to put pressure on myself. I want to win and coach these guys the right way. I want to have fun. I don’t care if it is the interim whatever; it doesn’t mean anything to me. I just want these kids to get better.”
With 27 seniors on the roster including quarterback Ryan Lee, the Vikings will have a chance to do that. Lee is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the Midlands and has offers from Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina and The Citadel among others.
Lee is the perfect triggerman for the Vikings’ flexbone, and Bacon is hoping the offense returns to the form it had in 2013, when they racked over 7,000 yards of offense on their way to an unbeaten regular season.
“Ryan Lee is the guy, and I’m going to put a lot of pressure on him and he is going to have to lead this team,” Robin Bacon said. “Any offense wants the ball in their best player’s hand, and he is going to touch it every play. He can make things happen.”
Ty’Juan Fulton and Tyrell Jackson will get a bulk of the carries in the backfield, and Bacon and Kiyon Nelson will be Lee’s top targets at receiver. Defensively, the Vikings are moving from a 3-4 to a 4-2-5.
This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 9:54 PM.