New EWC football coach Greg Ruffin looking for "O.K.G's"

"Our Kinda Guys" on and off the field should take the Tigers to the next level

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In his introductory press conference at Edward Waters College, new head football coach Greg Ruffin spoke for more than 10 minutes and didn't mention offense, defense, or special teams one time.  Instead, Ruffin told the team, coaches and administration in attendance that he is looking for "O.K.G's" or "Our Kinda Guys" to fill the football team

"We want to tell people what our message is and what our core values are," said Ruffin on Thursday morning.  "We don't want kids coming here and being surprised.  This is what we are.  We want kids to embrace that and once they do, they will understand that we will take off."

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Ruffin comes to the Tigers from Bethune Cookman University where he was the tight ends coach last season.  Before that Ruffin was the head coach at Texas College in 2016.  He has extensive experience in starting football programs from the ground up which he did at both Paine College and Shaw University.  Ruffin says that the facilities that are in place and the plans for expansion in the future at EWC made the job too good to pass up.

"At 28 years old, I was the head coach at Shaw.  We didn't have a locker room, we didn't have a weight room, we practiced in the city park, but we went 7-3 the first year.  So, as opposed to starting something from scratch, I have a foundation to build on here.  That alone excites me as well as being in the Jacksonville area," said Ruffins.

He inherits a Tigers team that went 1-10 last year under Alvin Wyatt, however Ruffin watched the tape of the games and says that the team he saw is not a 1-10 team.

"We are not a winning football program, we went 1-10," said Ruffin.  "So now everything plays on 'do we care?'  How much pride?  How much effort are we going to put into this thing?  We want effort guys and I think once we get that situated and cleaned up, we will be good."