High school coaches invest a lot of time and effort into helping their athletes become the best they can be, both as athletes and as people. Dillon Southerland is a coach and teacher at Duncan High School. As a coach, he has had some role models that he has looked up to and have helped him become a better coach.

“I’ve always admired some of the great coaches of our time,” he said. “Geno Auriemma, Pat Summit, Patty Gasso, and Dawn Staley. They are all just great leaders and super knowledgeable.”

Sutherland coaches high school girls soccer and middle school volleyball at Duncan. This is his eighth season as a coach for the Demons and he has been head soccer coach for the last four. 

Sports is something that Dillon enjoys and it gives him a great avenue to do what he loves to do.

“I’ve always had a love for sports and helping people so coaching was just the perfect thing for me,” he stated. “I’m very competitive so I love when all your hard work leads to wins but just as important to me is the relationship I create with my players. Those relationships will last a lifetime.”

As he reflects back on his youth, there was not a coach that made a big impact on his life, but says that caused him to want to be a coach even more.

“To be honest growing up I didn’t have any coaches that influenced me,” Southerland said. “I think that’s one reason why I wanted to be a coach. I did start as an assistant to some great coaches Delydia Givens and Rachelle Carr. I learned a lot from them.”

Throughout his career, he has enjoyed making memories with his team, but he says some recent success has been his favorite so far.

“I think making the playoffs three out of my first four years as head coach is a great memory for me,” he said. “And this year, we are hosting the first round of playoffs for the very first time in program history.”