Ironside takes over Osborne's boys track, flag football programs

Two years after leaving Cobb County, Latashia Ironside is making a return to the county’s coaching community.

Ironside is taking on the roles of coaching the boys track and field and girls flag football teams at Osborne.

She is returning to a familiar area after she and her husband, longtime Cobb County football coach Phil Ironside, spent two seasons at Worth County High School in south Georgia.

“I’m excited,” Latashia Ironside said. “We went and spent two years down south just to see what it was like and, I do admit, I like being up here a whole lot better. Track is more serious up here than it is down there. It doesn’t matter where I go or teach. Track is track, it’s what I do.”

Despite not having direct experience with flag football, Ironside said she has learned a lot from her husband, who recently took on the role as Osborne’s offensive coordinator following 20 seasons as a head coach at Campbell, Hillgrove and Worth County.

“I know a lot about football just from my husband being a football coach, but flag football is a lot different, and I’ll have to learn how it goes, but I’m looking forward to it,” Latashia Ironside said. “I love football.”

Ironside will combine what she knows about the game with the knowledge and experience her husband brings to guide Osborne’s flag football team in its third year of existence. Phil Ironside was a college quarterback at Middle Tennessee State in the late 1980s.

“He’ll be busy, but there’ll be some things I’ll want him to help me with,” Latashia Ironside said. “Teaching them how to throw a ball, teaching them how to catch a ball — I know how to do these things, but it’s always helpful to have him come out there and show them some pointers on certain things.”

Ironside said she is excited to get back to Cobb County and coach, speaking highly of the quality of track programs across the county, and she is prepared to recruit talent to bring to Osborne next season.

“Cobb County has some of the best track, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Ironside, the 2019 Cobb County Boys Track and Field Coach of the Year after leading Hillgrove to a third-place state finish. “I feel like I’m pretty good at recruiting kids out there and getting the best out of them.”

As a part of her coaching job, Ironside plans to bring motivation and drive to the athletes at Osborne.

“I like to get the kids motivated to do something they’ve never done,” Ironside said. “They usually take me up on it, and when they do, they usually end up successful. I enjoy seeing kids be successful, whether it’s a little or a lot.”

While Ironside is excited to return to Cobb County for the level of athletics, she said she was also excited to return to the area and reunite with familiar faces.

“I really missed the people that we got to know over the years,” Ironside said. “My husband was at Hillgrove for 15 years, and in Cobb County longer than that. It’s just nice to get back to friends and closer to family. My daughter’s here, and it’s just good to be back.”