Miles Sargent named head football coach at Troup High School
Published Monday, July 15, 2024 at 2:46 p.m.
Troup High School's boys and girls soccer teams will have new leadership next season. Troup High School graduate and former LaGrange College varsity soccer player Miles Sargent will lead both the boys and girls programs at his alma mater.
“I was a little hesitant at first,” Sargent said about taking over both teams, “I have a new baby at home. He's five months old right now. And I also have a fiancé at home, so I had to talk to them. You know, managing an entire program would make the schedule a lot more intense, there would be a lot more work that I'd have to do every day.”
It wasn’t that long ago, March 30, 2018 to be exact, that Sargent enjoyed a signing session that was the culmination of his hard work with the Tigers, and now it’s all come full circle as Sargent has signed to lead the Troops’ football program.
“I was very excited.They are now “They really saw my value and put it into words and actually demonstrated it by offering me a job,” Sargent said. “I never planned on working at a high school, and I just naturally fell into the position of working here. I've enjoyed every moment here.”
Sargent has been hired as a paraprofessional at Troup High School in 2022. To Sargent and his family, the school and surrounding community are irreplaceable and he can’t imagine working or coaching a football program anywhere else.
“I graduated here in 2018. My mom has worked here since 2010 and helped me get this job, and now my sister is a teacher here,” Sargent said. “This is a very special place to me.”
Troupe’s football program has seen a lot of personnel changes over the past few years and Sargent will be the third boys coach in the next three years and the third girls coach in four years. Sargent has served as an assistant coach for the past few years and is looking to bring true stability to the program now that he’s taken the reins.
“The main goal is to develop the kids into better people and have them do that in a team environment, socialize, build friendships that can last and hopefully earn a scholarship to play at the next level,” Sargent said. “The main goal is to inspire the kids to perform at their best.”
Sargent and his brother, Colin, have served as assistant coaches for the past few years, and Colin's addition for the 2025 season will provide continuity in the leadership department.
The men's and women's programs have been very different over the years. The NBA made the playoffs back-to-back years for the first time in program history in 2021 and 2022, while the women missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons. The next step is simply to field a competitive team again in 2025.
The boys' team is enjoying its most successful period, with the Tigers making the playoffs for three straight seasons and coming close to winning their first playoff appearance in more than a decade earlier this year, losing in a shootout to powerhouse Bainbridge.
Despite losing nine seniors from last year's team, expectations will be higher than ever for the boys' team thanks to a strong core of returning players.
“Well, realistically, it's going to be a rebuilding year for both teams. We lost nine seniors on the boys side from last year, many of whom were starters. We lost a lot of players on both the boys and girls sides from last year and we lost both coaches. So, we've really got to execute our plan and rebuild our programs back to where they were and honestly better than they were before and get to the next level.”
Sargent never thought about becoming a coach while he was growing up as a player, but he found it hard to quit soccer in college and wanted to stay involved in the sport somehow, and he found that through coaching at his alma mater.
“To be honest with you, I wanted to stay here as a coach and I didn't care if it was the men's or women's team, either way I was going to be involved with the program,” Sargent said. “My main goal was always to stay involved with the program. I've been involved with the program since I was a freshman in 2014.”
