Will Coach John McKissick Win No. 600 Tonight?

In 1952, the Kingstree man who would become known as the winningest coach in football history wasn't sure he'd stay in Summerville long.

John McKissick took the job as head coach, earning a meager $3,000 a year. The district's superintendent at the time sheepishly told McKissick: "I know you can't live on eating azaleas and wisteria." 

No, he hadn't planned on staying, let alone for 61 years and 599 wins. 

"But my wife liked it. Then we had children and they liked it," McKissick said.

And then came the offers from other teams but it was too late.

"I never considered them. I love it here. Money is not everything."

His last big milestone win came nearly a decade ago. He earned his 500th win in 2003 in an away game against Wando. Former Georgia Bulldog and current Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver AJ Green was on that team.

"From there, it was one at a time," McKissick said.

McKissick has had only two losing seasons over 61 years, and a win Friday will guarantee the team has another winning year. Click here to see the Green Wave's record over the years.

Click here to read what McKissick said about his 60th year coaching in 2011.

On the cusp of a 600th win, the coach simply shrugs his shoulders and repeats the saying he's said so many times that his daughter had it carved into a block of wood for him: "It is what it is."

"I never thought about 600. I just thought about the next game," he said.

Who's nipping at McKissick's heels? Click here to find out who the second winningest coach in high school history is. 

McKissick isn't making any bold claims going into Friday night. 

The game is against Ashley Ridge High, another Summerville team that is only three years old. Green Wave played the Swamp Foxes away last year and will again this year.

Last year, Green Wave fell to the very team that is comprised of boys that would have played for McKissick if the new school hadn't pulled them away. 

"Ashley Ridge has a good group of players," he said. "They move the football real good. I just hope we can move it on them too ... There's a lot of hype. I just hope we go out and play well. May the best team win."

Summerville is 5-4, and Ashley Ridge is 3-6 for the season. 

McKissick hasn't talked up the game for his players much this week. He told Patch that Wednesday, during practice, it was the first time he addressed the number that the town has been crowing about all season.

"I said I hope one of these days they can say they were on the team that hit 600 wins," McKissick said. "They got a chance to be on the team that got there."

After Friday, the last regular game of the season is undefeated Bluffton High at home. 

All those wins haven't gone to McKissick's head either. He will tell you he doesn't have a secret or he hasn't learned anything special that makes a winning team. He just coaches football.

"Football is actually a game of X's and O's, but it's also a game of Jerrys and Joes. Football is tackling, running and size now too. It's really a simple game," McKissick said. "If you got those guys that can do all that, it works out pretty good."

Of course, with so many wins and years at the helm under his belt, the question of retirement has been floated.

But the coach said he'd rather be out on the field. 

"As long as the district feels like I'm doing a good job and I feel I'm doing a good job, I don't have a set time (for retiring)," McKissick said. "Everybody's got to have something to do."

McKissick said there's not anything he would have done differently over his 599 wins and 61 years as coach of the Green Wave — it is what it is. 

"We always look at things we could have done or should have done, just like in football, but you can't second-guess your life and you have got to learn from your mistakes," McKissick said.

"You're going to have peaks and valleys, and you have to live with them."