For 28 years, Mark Davis has been changing the mindsets of students throughout Richland One in many different positions. He’s been a volunteer football coach, a lead substitute teacher, an inschool suspension (ISS) monitor and a therapeutic assistant.
“Working in Richland One allows you to really fulfill your goals of changing lives. Your goal is to see students go from adolescence to adulthood and be productive,” said Davis, a therapeutic assistant at Horrell Hill Elementary School and Richland One’s 2024-2025 Classified Employee of the Year.
Davis was born and raised in Hopkins. He attended Hopkins Elementary and Hopkins Middle schools before going to Cardinal Newman School for a majority of his time in high school. Davis returned to Richland One his senior year and graduated from Lower Richland High School in 1995.
One year after graduating from Lower Richland, Davis returned as a volunteer football coach. During his more than 20 years volunteering with Lower Richland’s football program, Davis and the coaches he worked with stressed the importance of discipline and academics to the players.
He took those lessons with him when he became the head football coach at Hopkins Middle in 2020. During his four years as head coach, Davis says he turned the players around academically and behaviorally.
“In my four years at Hopkins Middle, there were no D’s or F’s because I would dismiss you from the team until you got your academics together. I had to instill in the players that it’s ‘student-athlete,’ not ‘athlete-student,’” he said.
