Three words that sum up the high school experience are Friday night lights. The Kewpies hadn’t had a single win in a year and hadn’t won a home game for even longer. Prior to this season, a change was made at the top. The season is now over, and after having a promising finish, the man at the top believes Hickman is just getting started.

Coming from a winless season in 2023, Conyers had a lot to do, and all of his work from winter to the end of October was apparent. Conyers brought the winless Hickman Kewpies to a record of 4-6, with a 3-game win streak for the first time since 2012. 

While being proud of how the season went, Conyers was not completely satisfied.

“I still [am] not satisfied with where we are…I think there was a lot more left to give and [there] were opportunities that we didn’t [seize],” Conyers said. “[If we made changes, we would be sitting here] talking about being 6-4.”

For any incoming coach, leading a program from zero wins to four wins is remarkable, but is setting his sights forward. 

“[It] seems like a big turnaround from 0-10 to winning four football games, but, as far as a head football coach and where our potential is,” Conyers said. “I don’t know that we played to our potential at certain parts of the game.”

One of Conyers’ main coaching points is consistency and this was a big part of the team’s success but still something he wants to work on. 

“A lot of first [wins] for these guys in a while, so I thought that was big, and there were some consistent moments. But the thing I take away the most is watching our guys not go into a downward spiral after weeks one, two, and three because that could have happened very easily,” Conyers said. “Those guys coming together, really starting to learn our system, what our expectations from top to bottom, and more of the off-field stuff.” 

Downward spirals can negatively impact sports teams. While hard to combat, teams that can prevent them become great. How Conyers went about combating the problem was about belief and trust. 

“It’s obviously buy-in, it’s believing in what is being coached, believing what is being taught, actually believing, not just fake believing,” Conyers said. “Truly meaning and knowing the meaning behind the words that I am saying every day, and not faking it. [It all comes down to] having true buy-in, building [trusting] relationships, not only are you trusting those guys, but in return they’re trusting you as a coach.”

Conyers also touched on wanting to raise the standard to which his football team plays and acts every day. While this is difficult, Conyers already has a plan to tackle the issue. 

“[The first] piece is going to be weight room culture. I have set strength standards for all of my kids and all of their positions, and I expect them to meet those standards. If we’re going to raise [the standard] and stop living at the bare minimum it’s going to take work, dedication, and a lot of sacrifice,” Conyers said. “I feel like we have kids that are bought into that, I’m not going to say every single kid collectively agrees with what I’m saying, but there’s a large piece of our team that believes in those things that I just mentioned.”

The Hickman standard is highly subjective. Different people could have different opinions on what it means, and Conyers has a very strong opinion on what it means to him.

“The Hickman standard number one is [the] blue-collar, hard-working mentality. Period. You don’t get anything given to you. You work and you earn everything that you have. That is my pure belief in what it means to be a Kewpie, nothing was ever handed to us. [When I played football at Hickman] we worked our tails off, and our work ethic was extremely high,” Conyers said. “Nothing was given, it was earned and I take pride in that. I want to make sure our program really wraps our minds, and we exhibit that in our program as well.”

Before the season, Conyers was surrounded by excitement and an immense amount of anticipation felt by members of the student body. 

“My first thoughts when I heard Conyers was coming were just feelings of excitement for the players to get a fresh start and for Friday nights in the stands to hopefully be filled with excitement,” Gus Bousquet (12) said.

Gus is heavily involved at Hickman being a member of the varsity baseball team, a part of the student section group known as the Dawg Pound Order or DPO and won the title of Homecoming Royalty. 

During the span of the season, more members of the DPO and other members of the student body started to like Conyers more, and the change from Hickman’s previous coach to Conyers was made more apparent. 

“I can’t speak for the football team but the change [to] Conyers [from] Alvis as far as a person and coach [are] similar in the sense that they are both energetic and positive guys, however, I think Conyers has come in with a different set of eyes and has introduced ideas to not only help the football team but the school as a whole as well,” Gus said.

A sign of their respect and admiration for Conyers was shown throughout some of Hickman’s home games with a chant of “We Love Conyers” started by the DPO.

“Our senior class hasn’t really had much to be excited for with Friday night lights so just the fact that Conyers came here and made going to games competitive and fun for everyone to show up to, we wanted to show our appreciation by starting the ‘We Love Conyers’ chant,” Gus said.

Some chants by fans at sporting events go unheard or are ignored by coaches, but chants like that and support from the community have been heard and felt by Conyers. 

“I’m proud that we won games. I’m never going to take that away from the kids, but they know, and I know that we could have had more, and we could have been a better program this year. I appreciate everybody’s support. It has been, honestly, like, awesome, not even overwhelming. It’s just been great, just to hear the positivity [that excites me],” Conyers said.

Conyers was not satisfied with the season and is looking ahead to next year. 

“I am going into this off-season, as excited, as focused as I’ve ever been, I’m already prepared, I’m excited generally, like, super statically excited about our opportunity for next year,” Conyers said. “I just feel like there was so much more we could have done, and it was more of me just not knowing how to get it out of [the team], and [now] I know how to get it out of them.”

While his Hickman coaching career is just getting started, his impact has already been felt and Hickman’s impact on him has been made apparent. 

“Hickman made me the man that I am today,” Conyers said.