Vernon Gilbert sat down with Colleton County High School Cougar Football Head Coach Adam Kinloch to talk about the Cougar football season. Kinloch has been the head coach at the CCHS Program since 2023. He also came up through the Cougar football program. Kinloch’s father was also part of the coaching staff when it was Walterboro High School. When asked what some of the challenges he faced when taking over the program he comments, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” He acknowledges that expectations were and are high and they should be. Kinloch also holds himself to even more rigorous standards. “Just working, working, working to get this program turned around,” is what
Kinloch has been doing ever since he took charge. Kinloch comments it is a challenge working with parents and kids and getting everyone to understand in order to build something, problems must be identified and
addressed. Coach Kinloch feels the internal issues in terms of what has been holding the Cougars back have been fixed and now the focus can be on football, and the external factors are not affecting the program as they have in the past. Kinloch acknowledges that while the season did not produce as many wins as he wanted, it does not take away from the fact his players worked and worked and worked. They worked on the field, they worked in the classroom, they worked in the community doing a lot of little things that people do not see. Kinloch further comments that it is easy for players to “ride a different wave” and not do the hard work that a building process requires, but his players did not shy away from it. They accept the challenges in all these areas head on, and Kinloch counts himself blessed to have the opportunity to work with all the athletes in this program. Kinloch is excited to see these kids grow
and learn not only on the field but in life. Coach Kinloch was asked about the motto “Same Page” and where that came from. Kinloch does not take credit for “Same Page”, but informs that Defensive Coordinator Coach Tommy Brown, a forty plus year veteran in football in South
Carolina woke up one day with that on his mind. Brown went to Kinloch and said we are going in the right direction, but we all need to be on the same page, and they just ran with it. It goes a little deeper than just unity, it represents the athletes’ fight day in and day out in practice, during games, in the classroom, and when they are out in the community. Kinloch also noted he has seen the “ Same Page” mentality trickle down to JV and to middle school and infiltrating the Colleton County Football program. Looking to the 2026 season, Kinloch firmly states “we are working.” When Kinloch took the job, the goal was to bring the program back to the roots to what Colleton County football has been in the past. That is the expectation that Kinloch has for
himself and the program. There was some improvement this year, but there is always room for more improvement and Kinloch is ready to lead the program to attack and be successful on and off the field. Coach Kinloch states he is not cutting any corners but is preparing his team for the hard work ahead which will make success even better.
Action photos by Jeffrey Musgrave
