Poinciana football coach Timpson brings NFL attitude

Home

Sports Briefs

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

Poinciana football coach Timpson brings NFL attitude

Sports

Friday, 05 March 2010 09:17

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Poinciana High’s new football coach has a plan to turn around a program that has won just seven games since 2001.
To save time, maybe he should just pencil himself in at wide receiver.
Former NFL receiver Michael Timpson, 42, accepted the job and began work Thursday.
“I can still run,” he said.
Timpson, a football and track standout at Hialeah Miami Lakes High from 1981-85, played for coaching legend Joe Paterno at Penn State. He said that he will turn the Eagles into a successful football team by instilling the same attributes at Poinciana that work for Paterno: “Discipline, class and sacrifice,” he said.
Timpson said there is no reason why Poinciana can’t win, and soon.
“Why not?” he said. “I’m confident that there’s enough talent here to get it done. The athletes are here. There are 1,300 kids on this campus.”
The X-factor will be whether he can change a culture of losing. He is Poinciana’s fifth head coach in six years, replacing Gene Smith, who won three games in two seasons.
“I can’t address what has happened here before. I’m aware of the situation that has existed here, and I’m not at all in awe of the job that needs to be done,” he said. “My focus is on what can we do to turn attitudes and expectations around. I have full confidence that we can do that.”
Timpson won seven track championships at FHSAA state meets in the hurdles, long jump and 200 meters before joining Paterno at Penn State, where the Nittany Lions won the 1986 national championship. Timpson set several track and field records at Penn State in the hurdles and sprints. He holds the NCAA indoors 300 meters record (33.01).
Timpson was taken by New England in the fourth round of the 1989 draft, where he played for four coaches in five seasons, the last being Bill Parcells. In 1994, he caught 74 passes for 941 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots posted a 10-6 record and reached the playoffs.
He signed as a free agent with Chicago in 1995 and caught 62 passes for 802 yards in 1996 before ending his career at Philadelphia. In nine NFL seasons, he caught 300 passes for 4,047 yards and 12 touchdowns.
“I went to Miami’s training camp in ’98, but Jimmie Johnson cut me. He told me he wanted to go younger and cheaper,” Timmons said. “I had an opportunity to play for some great coaches, and I learned a lot from them. Do you think anything that happens here is going to be rougher than being chewed out by Bill Parcells? I don’t think so.”
Timpson said that he is coaching high school football because he wants to make a difference in young lives.
“I don’t know where I’d be if someone hadn’t taken an interest like that in me,” he said. “I was a young son of a single mom. A lot of things could have happened. That’s what I want to do, to reach out to kids who need help. One of the ways to do that, and one of the most effective, is through sports.”
Timpson was the head coach at Arlington Christian School in Georgia last year. He also coached at Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale for three seasons from 2003-05.
He opened a training facility for athletes, Velocity Sports Performance, for two years and was a sports commentator for several networks, including ESPN Radio.
“It’s not about me; that’s not why I’m here. It’s about these kids,” he said. “The important thing for them to know is that I’m going to be here, as long as they’ll let me stay. My wife has family here, my brother lives in Orlando; it’s a place I want to be.”
PHS Athletic director Mal Harpell said the last thing he wants to see is a short stay from Timpson.
“He is an individual with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and I think that is really going to be a boost not only for football, but for our entire program,” Harpell said. “We had some outstanding applicants for this position, but his resume certainly stood out.”
Harpell said that Timpson has the freedom to bring in a new group of assistants.
“He’ll make those staffing decisions,” Harpell said.
On the field, Timpson said the Eagles are going to be aggressive.
“We’ll do a lot of things offensively, not any one thing in particular,” he said. “Defensively, we’re coming after you. A lot of that will depend on the ability that you have on the field, but we’re going to be aggressive.
“It’s no fun sitting back; the idea is to win. Regardless of what happens, we’re going to play with discipline and class, the way I was taught to play.”
Timpson and his wife, Edwena, have two children, Gabrielle, 16, and Michael Jr., 13.
Timpson said he may assist the Poinciana track team after he settles into his job.