After their loss to the Flowery Branch Falcons in the region championship game, the Red Elephants sat at 7-3 heading into the AAAAA state playoffs. After that game, Red Elephants coach Bruce Miller’s message was straight to the point.

“Guys, if we can get hot, we can make a run at this thing,” Miller said. “But, we’ve got to get hot.”

His players responded to the message, and won five straight to claim the Class AAAAA state championship on Dec. 14 at the Georgia Dome, the school’s first football state title.

For this effort, Miller is The Times Football Coach of the Year.

However, Miller said it’s not the awards and titles that he cares about, but the young men who come through the program.

“It wasn’t about winning state championships; it’s about (hopefully) building young men and getting people to care about others,” he said. “(The championship) wasn’t just for the 2012 Gainesville High School football team, this was for Gainesville High, the Gainesville community. “Many players that have come through here, this state championship’s for them.”

He used the analogy of the New York Giants getting into the NFL playoffs and winning the Super Bowl last year for his team to understand what getting hot truly meant.

His coaching staff was also a big part of their success, and Miller praised them.

“When you preach to a bunch of guys ‘got to get hot, you wonder are they buying in to what I tell them?’” he said. “I thought our coaches down the stretch did a very good job of preparing our players week in and week out.

“It takes more than one person to accomplish what we did. It takes a (good) coaching staff.”

Miller praised his team for having the resiliency to claw back when the playoffs started.

They finished the regular season with two straight losses, including surrendering a 21-point lead against Loganville, where they lost 46-41.

Miller said his teamed learned about complacency in the loss to Loganville, and what they couldn’t do going forward in the playoffs.

“(The team’s) resiliency was tremendous,” Miller said. “I think the Loganville game taught us a bunch about complacency. We had been in that situation many times earlier during the early part of they year, and instead of going out and finishing them off, we didn’t.”

And, in a text from quarterback Deshaun Watson the night after the game, Miller knew his team had learned. According to Miller, Watson wrote, “Coach that was a reality check we went through.”

Now that his team has won a championship, Miller doesn’t want his team, coaches or himself to fall back into a complacent state.

“I don’t think you can afford to get complacent in this business because there’s somebody always gunning for you,” Miller said. “Now, you come out and you’re the No. 1 team in the state, there’s even more people gunning for you.”

“We’ll enjoy (the championship) over Christmas. When we come back from Christmas that one’s over, and let’s go get another.”