Clarke Central High School head varsity football coach David Perno stands in Billy Henderson Stadium on May 5. Before beginning his career as head coach, Perno found himself visiting CCHS in 2015 and felt as though the team was facing challenges. “I was on the last state championship team here in 1985 and my daughter was at school here. In fall of 2015, they invited anyone from the ’85 team for the 30 year celebration of the state championship and I came back,” Perno said. “It was painful to see that this storied program with so much history didn’t have a lot of players. There (were) about 30 players dressed out, not a lot of interest in the fan section, and they weren’t very good, and I missed coaching.” Photo by Luna Reichert
After his start in 2016, head varsity football coach David Perno will coach his seventh consecutive season with the Gladiators in the fall of 2022.
After joining the Clarke Central High School Athletic Department in 2016, head varsity football coach David Perno completed his sixth consecutive football season with the Gladiators during the 2021-22 school year.
Perno’s team finished 10-3 with a third 8-5AAAAA region championship and third quarter-final playoff finish in the last four years and he feels that it was one of his best seasons yet.
“This last season was pretty special just because of coming off the brink of COVID and an undefeated region and keeping that streak alive,” Perno said. “We started 0-2 and were able to win eight-in-a-row and hold it together, turn it around and keep things on track.”
Before being hired at CCHS, Perno held the position of University of Georgia head baseball coach for 11 years before exiting in 2013, making his last football experience his time on the CCHS football team in the mid-1980s. CCHS Athletic Director Dr. Jon Ward believes that Perno instilled a new attitude in the players both on the field and in the classroom.
“The non-tangible is the mindset and outlook of the program, and the approach that the young people who participate in football now understand the set of expectations of how to perform on the field, but most importantly, off the field,” Jon said. “I know we have a storied football history here and that’s the run we’ve been on the last four years.”
As a member of the 1985 state championship team coached by former CCHS head football coach Billy Henderson, Perno hoped to rejuvenate the program in his first season as coach 31 years later.
“I was obviously here through the time that we were one of the best football programs in the country,” Perno said. “I came back and the concept was to get them back, and of course things are tough. It’ll never be what it was, but I think we’re making strides and we’re building a very solid program.”
“I was obviously here through the time that we were one of the best football programs in the country. I came back and the concept was to get them back, and of course things are tough. It’ll never be what it was, but I think we’re making strides and we’re building a very solid program.”
— David Perno,
head varsity football coach
Under Perno, the CCHS football team has posted an overall record of 49-24 and has won at least eight games each season since 2018. Former CCHS quarterback and current walk-on for the University of Southern California football team and CCHS Class of 2020 alumnus Isaac Ward believes that Perno’s coaching style has paved the way for the Gladiator’s success.
“I think his coaching is very honest. It (was) also progressive and proactive,” Isaac said. “He wasn’t super regimented to a sense where he just (wore) the players out, but (he’d) always have a good feel for the pace. He always was very good at pacing the season and making sure that the team peaked at the right time.”
CCHS math department teacher Aaron Cavin was an assistant football coach from 2016 to 2018. In that time, he worked under three different head coaches and feels that Perno successfully combined the benefits of many former coaches.
Clarke Central High School head varsity football coach David Perno coaches during a CCHS football game on Oct. 16, 2019. Looking over his past six seasons, Perno feels that the team has been able to accomplish goals both on the field and academically. “Since 2019, we’ve won 17 consecutive region games, so three region championships, beat Buford for one,” Perno said. “We’ve done a lot of good and probably more importantly, I think what you see is academically, our kids are are doing much better than they were my first year we just didn’t have a lot of kids qualify to get a football scholarship and since that point we’re kind of averaging sending off seven, eight a year to go play college football.” Photo courtesy of ODYSSEY Archives
“(Perno has) taken the traditions and the values that (Henderson) had, but at the same time, he’s adapted them to where we’re at now. (Perno is) down to earth. He’s humble. He’s laid back and willing to learn, willing to listen (and) very approachable,” Cavin said. “A lot of times coaches can be unapproachable, and that’s not him at all. I think that’s one of his appeals and why he could coach for as long as he wants to.”
For former CCHS wide receiver and current member of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte football team Jarius Mack, a CCHS Class of 2021 alumnus, one of Perno’s stand-out characteristics is his ability to bring the team together in key moments.
“I think we were playing against Greenbrier (High School) my senior year. It wasn’t going our way at all. We were winning, but we weren’t winning like we were supposed to, a lot of points (in the game) where we could’ve scored,” Mack said. “At halftime, (Perno) took everybody to the side and (told) everybody to calm down and just do what we do, and he even calmed down the coaches. He really showed how much of a leader he is.”
According to Perno, much of his success as head coach can be attributed to the coaching staff that he has built during his tenure.
“In football, you got to have a coaching staff and I’ve been blessed to have the resources and fortunate to attract the type of assistant coaches that we have,” Perno said.
While serving under Perno and former head varsity football coaches Leroy Ryals and Ahren Self, Cavin feels that one of the most important tasks of Perno’s hiring was working to create a supportive coaching staff.
Clarke Central High School head varsity football coach David Perno stands with CCHS defensive coordinator Justin Jones on April 20. Jones has worked with Perno since his hiring in 2016 and has seen Perno’s growth as a coach over the years. “When we first got here, he was definitely more of just overseeing the program, kind of learning the ins and outs of being a head football coach,” Jones said. “Now I can say he’s much more hands on he gets a much keener sense of game management, clock management, and things of that nature.” Photo by Lucas Donnelly
“In my opinion, one of the things that’s helped him the most is hiring (CCHS football defensive coordinator Justin Jones),” Cavin said. “Coach Jones is one of the most incredible coaches I’ve ever met. He’s the whole package. He’s a disciplinarian, but at the same time, he’s cool. He knows what he’s talking about. He has respect from everybody. Hiring him was one of the best moves Coach Perno made starting off.”
With Perno’s support, Jones believes they have brought the CCHS football team back to the level of other Georgia high school teams.
“Coach Perno has given our football program an opportunity to be relevant again in the state of Georgia (and) we know there’s a lot of really good programs here,” Jones said. “Coach Perno has done a great job of getting our programs back to relevancy and then getting the right coaches here in place and setting the correct programs in place for our athletes to be successful.”
With spring football beginning in May, Jon feels Perno will continue to exceed the standards expected of him, such as making it past the quarterfinals.
“There’s no expectation that hasn’t been fulfilled or goal that we need to realize. I think (as) the whole Gladiator family, we hope that we can figure out how to get beyond game 13 (the quarterfinals),” Jon said. “Our program is at a place now where we hate to see seniors go but with the next group that’s coming up, we get better. We’re more competitive, and I think the 2022 team has (an) opportunity to be the team that breaks through and runs a little deeper in the state playoffs.”
“There’s no expectation that hasn’t been fulfilled or goal that we need to realize. I think (as) the whole Gladiator family, we hope that we can figure out how to get beyond game 13 (the quarterfinals). Our program is at a place now where we hate to see seniors go but with the next group that’s coming up, we get better. We’re more competitive, and I think the 2022 team has (an) opportunity to be the team that breaks through and runs a little deeper in the state playoffs.”
— Jon Ward,
CCHS Athletic Director
Beyond the on-field success during Perno’s time at CCHS, Jones says the spirit surrounding CCHS football is a foundation of Perno’s legacy.
“I know the pride factor was something that he mentioned to us as the staff, (and) mentioned to me individually, that he would like to restore within our community, people having pride in being a Clarke Central Gladiator. That’s something he’s definitely done,” Jones said. “Having success as a collegiate (UGA baseball) coach and then coming back to be a high school coach, that speaks volumes of his character and his personality, and it shows our athletes that Clarke Central is a quality place to be.”
Jon sees Perno’s ability to help his players play in collegiate football as advantageous to the development of the program.
“We’ve been fortunate during his tenure. We’ve averaged with (previous) senior classes, (about) nine seniors going on and having an opportunity to play the next year (in college). That’s very, very good in the context of schools our size,” Jon said. “(Perno’s) able to communicate that to our players and their parents, and (the) results that we have with allowing so many of our football players (to) have the opportunity to play at the next level is a direct result of that.”
Looking to the future, Perno hopes to lead his teams to a state championship similar to his own experience in the mid-80s.
“We need to break through the quarterfinals and see if we can get to a state championship. That’s always been the goal. It’s been 36 years or something now, since 1985. We’ve only had one other in that time period. There have been a couple other chances, but we just haven’t been able to win that coveted state championship that you’re searching for,” Perno said. “Hopefully, we just keep doing things the right way and for the right reasons, and we’ll break through that door.”
