FORT WALTON BEACH — Josh Pulliam prepared a list of talking points for his first speech Thursday as head football coach at Fort Walton Beach.
None of that materialized.
"Oh man, I choked up and got teary eyed," he laughed. "Things like that don't happen to me. This is my first opportunity. I've held every other position as coach, but I've never had "Head" before it. So we go to meet the players on the Viking head (at Steve Riggs Stadium) and all the administration is there and Mrs. Smith addresses them and introduces me. I had things I wanted to say and I didn't get to because It just hit me hard in that moment."
"To get my moment, I'm super thankful to my family and Fort Walton believing in me."
What he did say to the players represented his love for them and their future.
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"My message to the guys was I want them to shine. I want them to shine in any way possible," Pulliam said. "I've said this to you before when I was named wrestling coach of the year, my thing is making sure my players leave this program as better people. I've been blessed to work with a lot of good players but even better human beings. My job extends well beyond football."
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Pulliam is unapologetically loud. He's animated. He's got a notoriously big personality, but he has an even bigger heart.
His love for football shined at Choctawhatchee High, where he graduated as a dual-sport scholar athlete in 2003. It shined at Greensboro College, where he was a standout offensive lineman. And it shined when he returned to the Sunshine State and embraced humility as he became a jack-of-all-trades coach indispensable to multiple position camps.
As a grad assistant at the University of South Florida, he entered any position meeting that would have him. That, along with cutting his teeth of going the extra mile of changing weights and getting the small grunt work done, earned him a role with running backs, linebackers, the defensive line and the strength and conditioning program. It's at USF he and his wife, high school sweetheart Allison, established a tradition of hosting the players he coached for a big dinner during fall camp.
No one was more happy for Pulliam than Allison, a 2005 FWB graduate and the mother of his two sons: 10-year-old Harvey and 4-year-old Gibson.
"Allison is more jacked up than I've been," said Pulliam, who plans to return to that dinner tradition this fall after it was halted because of the pandemic. "She's loving all of this."
Pulliam segued that college experience into a strength and conditioning role for three Tampa-area schools in Braden River, Sarasota and Palmetto before running into former Choctaw principal Cindy Gates at a dance competition for his niece in Orlando. That fortuitous meeting led him back to Choctaw in 2011, where he coached wrestling, weightlifting and became one of Greg Thomas' most trusted coaches on the gridiron, coaching the freshman team and working with both lines as Choctaw celebrated a Final Four berth in 2014.
Pulliam then made the move to Fort Walton Beach in 2018 and worked with the defensive line, eventually becoming Chip Petree's right-hand man in an era defined by the pandemic and the Vikings' propensity to schedule tough programs.
Throughout it all, Pulliam had dreamed of helming his own program one day.
That opportunity came when Bobby Clayton left for Pensacola Catholic following an 8-12 tenure with the Vikings. Fifty-two coaches applied, and Pulliam and E.G. Green made the final cut. When Green decided to stay at Destin High, Pulliam was the answer to lead Fort Walton back into the spotlight, back into the news.
"Head coach was always been in the back of my mind when you apply for jobs every year," Pulliam said. "At my age, quality of life really means a lot. This is good as it gets. Fort Walton Beach has it in them to be great. It's been there. It's my job to make our kids shine as best as possible. It's what they deserve and it's what the community and fans deserve.
Of course this job presents its obstacles. Never has the transfer portal been so open, and that was represented as the Vikings brought in a slew of transfers in 2023 only to lose East Carolina signee Eddie Love, Division-I bound JJ Lewis and Ole Miss bound Dante Core to rival schools.
"It's one of those things that if you build it, they will come," Pulliam said. "If you're having fun and working hard and your players believe in you and what you got going on, it'll translate to players wanting to play here."
As for wins and losses, the Vikings are coming off a 3-7 campaign despite breaking its rivalries with Niceville and Navarre and having a 2.0 strength of schedule, the bottom half of 4A schools. For reference, 5A Niceville a 8.14 SOS, 5A Crestview a 7.71 SOS and 4A Choctaw a 6. 92 SOS, and as we learned the FHSAA exceedingly rewards schools for their SOS rather than wins against lowly opponents.
Pulliam couldn't say whether or not the Niceville rivalry will return, but he understands there's a middle ground to scheduling between the Petree mindset of "to be the best, you got to beat the best" and the last couple of years of more winnable games.
'We want to be as competitive as possible," Pulliam said. "Our focus is on our guys, what we going on, and if we do that it should take care of itself. The schedule is something we have to look at and put our kids in the best position to compete, but we also have to recognize what is going on with the FHSAA standings. I'm going to do my best to put them in that competitive environment against area programs."
He also recognizes the offense has to score more points. Last year's 114 total points over 10 games were sadly a continuation of offensive struggles dating back more than a decade. The last time the Vikings averaged 30 or more points was in 2012, so hiring an offensive coordinator will be high priority. Pulliam said he understands that and will be networking through all his contacts, but for now he's just excited to ramp up the strength and conditioning and get his players prepared for spring football.
"We have to hit the ground running and keep up with the Joneses," Pulliam said. "We're ready to put in the work and and get everyone on the same page."