New Westside head coach James Harris ready for challenge

As James Harris waited around this offseason to see whether he would become the head football coach at Westside, he admittedly got a little bit anxious.

Harris has been involved with Westside and its feeder school, Weaver Middle, for about 15 years now. He started coaching with beloved Westside coach Sheddrick “Spoon” Risper in 2013 and has been Risper’s defensive coordinator since 2018. The former Albany State linebacker has been committed to Seminoles football since he arrived in Macon.

Harris formed some meaningful relationships in that time, to say the least — but he was nervous nonetheless.

“Obviously we knew (Risper) was retiring, but you still have to wait until the season is over. I applied and then went through the interview process, but I still had to wait over the winter break,” Harris said. “I honestly wasn’t sure whether I was going to get it.”

Harris was finally announced as Westside’s new coach last month, much to the McDuffie County native’s relief. He will take over one of the most successful football programs in the Bibb County School District, though new region alignments and playoff formats will prove a challenge.

Harris doesn’t mind.

“There’s some schools with a winning tradition (in our new region), but Westside has a winning tradition, too. I just want to take it one day at a time and focus on getting better every day,” he said.

Building relationships

After growing up in Dearing near Augusta and playing at Thomson High School, Harris played at Albany State until 2006, where he was one of the team’s top tacklers. A stint in arena football followed, which is where he forged a connection that would go on to shape his coaching career.

A friend of Harris’ from arena football who was a fellow Albany State grad connected him with Risper, who also played arena football. At the time, Harris had actually just returned to playing football after his first foray into coaching at Coffee County lasted only two years.

“I was one of the last people hired to coach (during a hiring
cycle), and then there were furloughs, so it was just something I had to figure out. It wasn’t easy,” Harris said of his first coaching experience. “But everything happens for a reason.”

The brief stint at Coffee County got back to Risper through their mutual friend, and the soon-to-be-icon at Westside was looking to fill out his staff. Most of the high school spots were occupied, but someone needed to help build the pipeline up from the middle school level.

“I was actually on a bye week (from arena football) when I first talked to the principal at Weaver. I came down to Macon and they actually offered me the job the same day,” Harris said. “I went and got fingerprinted and everything.”

That was in 2011. Only two years later, Harris started helping Risper at Westside. Those years blend together a bit for him now, but he says he loved the job from the minute he started.

“I first knew I wanted to coach when I was at Albany State. We would have camps for the teenagers. The joy of coaching them, showing them what I know and them being so grateful, that really made me want to do that,” Harris said.

As passionate as the former linebacker is about coaching, it was something else that made him want to succeed Risper as Westside’s head coach.

“It’s the winning tradition they have at Westside. Coming from Thomson, they had that winning tradition. To me, it’s harder to start in a place that doesn’t have it,” Harris said. “I’ve also known these kids for a long time. I know families where I coached their older brother, and I get to know the parents.”

Harris will be just the third coach for Westside since the school opened. His two predecessors combined to win 220 games from 1997 to 2025. Risper, the man who guided him to Westside and installed him as defensive coordinator in 2018, had 119 of those wins and only 73 losses. The Seminoles did not lose a game against a fellow Bibb County School District team until a loss to Southwest in 2016.

They are undoubtedly large shoes to fill, but Harris is ready.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is to help the kids become better people. It’s not just about winning, it’s about making them ready for life after football.”

New foes and familiar rivals

Harris will have his work cut out for him. As if Westside’s history of success wasn’t enough, the Seminoles will enter a tough region when the GHSA realigns yet again this offseason.

After moving down to 2A two seasons ago, the Seminoles will shoot up to 4A thanks to the revised A-7A structure in GHSA. More importantly, though, Westside will share a stacked region with some of the best programs in Middle Georgia in recent years.

Region 2-4A will consist of eight teams including Baldwin, Howard, Mary Persons, Peach County, Spalding, Troup County and Upson-Lee along with Westside. Peach County should prove particularly challenging, as the Trojans have become perennial state title contenders under former Warner Robins head coach Marquis Westbrook.

“Programs like Peach County and Troup County, those are the type of teams you want to be playing. Everybody gets up for those games. Those are some programs with really successful history,” Harris said.

The Seminoles will also be in a region with classic rival Howard once again. The last several matchups between the two have been nail-biters. Westside will also play some other Macon schools in its non-region play, though Harris did not have input on the schedule since it was decided before he was hired.

“Those Macon games are always big for our kids, and honestly that’s how we make a lot of our revenue is from the ticket sales at those games,” Harris said. “Guys will know players from the other team, so they love to go out and compete. We want to be fired up for every game, but they like the inner city games.”

The GHSA is also furthering the importance of power rankings in its new playoff format, which does away with the traditional  system where the top four teams in a region make the playoffs. Now power rankings alone will determine the 32-team state championship field, so all teams will have to focus on each and every game to improve their ranking in GHSA’s formula.

That will make it tougher for Westside, but the Seminoles’ strength of schedule should help boost their standing in the formula.

Regardless, Harris will try and have his team ready to go when the 2026 season rolls around. The Seminoles need a new quarterback after senior James Neville graduated last year, and they lost some key defenders to graduation as well.

Harris thinks things will work out.

“I’m still pretty new,” he said. “I like where we’re going. I’m excited.”