Off Mississippi 51 North in Summit, each day starts just the same for Dale and Josh Watts. Rather than throwing on a suit and tie to teach at school and coach a basketball game, they head out to their family barn and begin their day catering to their prize-winning Tennessee walking horses.
While they’re known in MAIS circles for their prowess on the sidelines, they’re also known throughout the South for their work at Pioneer Stables. From March until November, they travel to Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, throughout Mississippi and other states showing their horses.
They train their steeds by morning before going their separate ways at lunch. Dale makes the hour-long trek east to Columbia Academy, where he coaches both the boys and girls varsity basketball teams. Josh drives north for about 25 minutes to Brookhaven Academy to direct the boys program in both high school and junior high.
Friday night, though, their basketball paths intersected for the first time since Dec. 28, 2018. Josh got the better of that matchup in Columbia Academy’s holiday tournament, beating his dad’s team 47-33 to win the tournament.
But this Friday Dale’s Columbia Academy Cougars came out on top with a 62-40 victory, and the father-son duo talked beforehand about the difficulties of having to coach against both family and coworker.
They both have impressive coaching resumes. Josh has led Brookhaven to back-to-back state championships in Class 2A. And while his two titles in five years are mightily impressive, he still has a long way to go to match his dad’s success. Dale has 10 state championships under his belt during his 46 years of coaching.
And both have teams primed to compete for a title this season.
Dale said it’s hard for them to coach against one another because they share the desire for the other’s team to succeed.
“But, hey, I want to beat him. And I want him to want to beat me,” he said.
“It’s never good, and it’s never fun,” Josh added. “Dad and I have a different relationship — not only do we coach against each other, but we work together every day. As competitive as both of us are, it makes things a little difficult. We try to make the best of it and move on.”
While the father-son duo didn’t spent much time discussing coaching against each other before the game, they do talk about each other’s teams and offer advice every day at the barn.
They did talk Thursday morning, though, about the game and being able to experiment with their lineups, play calls and strategies since there isn’t anything on the line with the two programs being in different classifications.
Brookhaven’s transition from Class 3A to 2A in 2017 has made it a lot easier for the Watts family. Previously Columbia Academy and Brookhaven Academy were rivals in the same district, and they had to square off multiple times a year. When asked who holds the edge in head-to-head victories, Dale chuckled and said that question would be better answered by Josh. Josh admitted that while he’s won a few times, his dad has won the head-to-head matchups more often.
While both said there really isn’t any bragging rights on the line when their teams match up, there is a member of the family that takes it to heart — Josh’s wife, Olivia.
Dale coached Josh his entire life, and when Josh needed to fulfill his student teaching requirement while attending Southern Miss he worked alongside his dad while Dale was coaching at Brookhaven. On top of that, Olivia used to sit on the bench when Dale was coaching there when she and Josh were students. She now sits on Josh’s bench during Brookhaven’s games.
“Life at home for me is much easier when I get beaten,” Dale said. “Me and Josh make it fine. But Olivia, she’s a competitor now.”
Josh said he and his dad keep it civil afterward and don’t really talk about the game the next day. He said they try to shake hands and move on, at least initially.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t talk about it a week later, but it will take a couple of days,” he said.
It was actually pure happenstance that the father and son got to schedule a game this year at all. CA had Salem on the schedule for Friday night originally, but Salem opted to drop the game. Brookhaven, like many MAIS schools, plays district games Tuesdays and Fridays, but it just so happened that Brookhaven had this particular Friday open.
When Dale signed the CA girls team up to play in the Brookhaven Tournament to open the season in October, he told Josh and Brookhaven girls coach Ron Kessler that Brookhaven needed to return the favor by playing in a game in Columbia. With the Salem game no longer on the docket, they were able to make it happen.
Any member of Cougar Nation who enjoys attending games at Columbia Academy knows of Dale’s spirit on the court. Whether he shouts to call a player over or berates an official, his competitive nature is on full display courtside. Josh says he’s certainly not as vocal training horses, but Dale still brings the same tenacity and work ethic to his day job.
“He still expects a lot out of his employees just like he does his players,” Josh explained. “Really there’s not a lot of difference other than we talk to each other a little different than we talk to kids.”
Friday night proved that Josh is like his dad in that regard as well, displaying the same fire Dale does on the sideline.
But when they returned to the barn the next morning, it was business as usual: training their horses. Just the way they like it.
