MULLINS, S.C. (AP) — To illustrate the difference in coaching now and the way it used to be, Miles Aldridge has to go back 20 years.

In 1989, he was a defensive assistant at Clemson when the Tigers played at Florida State, and both teams were ranked in the top 20. The year before at Death Valley, the Seminoles had upset the No. 3 Tigers 24-21, and his players were hungry for revenge.

“They were so fired up before the game, I actually had to calm them down,” Aldridge said Friday afternoon as he sat outside a portable classroom at Mullins High. He added, with a chuckle,

“It’s not quite the same here. Not yet.”

As if on cue, three players came strolling toward the room where their teammates — out of classes for a school in-service day — watched a video of “Friday Night Lights” before getting dressed for that night’s game against Aynor High.

“Where y’all been?” Aldridge asked, quietly but firmly. The trio offered excuses; the coach shook his head. “Y’all are lucky I let you dress out,” he said, never raising his voice.

In the three months since he became Mullins’ coach just five weeks before the Auctioneers’ first game, Aldridge has experienced daily the gulf between major-college football and a Class 2A school with 650 students — differences in resources, time, talent and players’ commitment.

Thirty-seven years removed from his last prep coaching job, at Newberry High, the Columbia native has gone back to the basics, back to the game’s roots. He says he has not regretted the move a single day.

“I’m a ball coach,” Aldridge said. “I used to say when I was done coaching (in college), I’d go teach kids to play football and have fun. Of course,” he added, laughing, “I thought they’d be 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds.

“But I’m coaching football. This is where I am in my life.”

In early 2007, Aldridge found himself out of the college game for the first time in 34 years, other than two years with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. He had worked since 1973 for 12 schools, including two stops at Clemson and one at the University of South Carolina. But when he left Central Florida after a 3-8 season — “it was mutual,” he said of his departure — he figured it was time to try something else.

A longtime friend since high school at A.C. Flora helped set him up in business in Charlotte, “but that wasn’t something I enjoyed,” he said. “I tried to stay away (from coaching), not think about it.”

He couldn’t.

He looked into high school assistants’ jobs in Greenville but lacked the necessary teaching certificate. Then, the week he learned about the Mullins’ opening — former coach Ron Lanham’s contract was not renewed after two seasons — Aldridge received his certificates for both North and South Carolina.

Even more important than Aldridge’s resume, though, is what he could represent: Stability.

“The last eight years, the turnover here has been tremendous,” said offensive line coach Dawani Fladger, who played at South Carolina State from 1997-2001 and coached at Keenan, Elloree and Williston-Elko before returning home. “I played here. I’m from here, (and) I want to help these kids.”

Because of Aldridge’s history of job-jumping, some in town wonder if he has the same commitment.

“People will have that in the back of their minds, but this is what he’s told us he wants to do,” said offensive coordinator Greg Hill. “The kids, the town — we need someone we can trust.”

A pre-game rainfall, giving way to a light mist, kept attendance sparse for Mullins’ homecoming. But those in the stands were loud and enthusiastic, and the Auctioneers soon gave them reason to be.

The Aucs’ 41-0 victory was their best showing of the season, Aldridge said.

“Blocking, turnovers, fundamentals — that was good,” he said. “The things we’re trying to teach them, some of that is foreign to high school kids. We executed on offense like they were taught; now we’ve got to do it longer, harder, better.”

A playoff spot is possible.

Aldridge said all his years of coaching college football now seem like another life.

“I chased that dream for 30 years,” he said. “Tried to move up the (coaching) ladder, be a coordinator. It was fun, a lot of fun. But I’m not chasing that now. I had that ride.”

He planned a stop at McDonald’s for two cheeseburgers, then on to a friend’s place where he lives while wife Angela tries to sell their home in Charlotte, and where he’d sit up watching scores on TV and the DVD of the game.

It’s basic, grass roots, high school football. And Aldridge is having fun again.

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