Garin Justice Leads Concord to WVIAC Championship

Concord Head Coach Garin Justice
Daily Telegraph file photo

  Three-year Mountaineer starter, Garin Justice, led the Concord Mountain Lions to the WVIAC Championship in his first season as head coach. Justice had been on Concord's staff since 2009, but was promoted to head coach in January of this year. 
  In a high-scoring, offensive shootout against West Virginia Wesleyan, the Mountain Lions prevailed 48-40 over the Cougars on Saturday. The Mountain Lions edged WVWC in total offense 513-481, but the Cougars were held to 35 yards rushing by the Mountain Lions defense. 
  The win marks a tremendous turnaround for the program after going winless in 2008. Justice, a former Second-Team All-American, is one of the big reasons behind the turnaround. He brought in a similar spread-offense to what he learned under Rich Rodriguez when he joined the Concord staff in 2009 as the Offensive Line Coach and Conditioning Coordinator, and the change to the offense was immediate. The team went from scoring 11.3 points per game in 2008 to 33.2 in 2009. Rushing yards per game were nearly tripled. The Mountain Lions gained 227.0 yards rushing per game in 2009, up from 79.8 in 2008.
  Justice's coaching pedigree is rich. Starting with being GA under Rich Rodriguez in 2006. He then spent the next two seasons under Bobby Bowden also as a GA before joining the Concord staff.