NATCHEZ — With a state championship under his belt, Cathedral head coach Ron Rushing may appear like he has everything figured out.

But Rushing is the first to admit he is always working to improve his team and his coaching. A true student of the game, Rushing teamed up with Madison-Ridgeland Academy head coach Herbert Davis both this offseason and last season in hopes of taking his team to another level.

“We are just trying to soak it all in,” Rushing said after a day long meeting Friday at Cathedral with Davis. “We are just trying to get better at what we are doing technique wise and fundamentally.”

Rushing said Davis was a key component for his team’s success last year on defense after coming to Natchez and sharing some of his philosophies.

“Defensively, that was the big difference for us last year,” Rushing said. “The kids bought into it. Just having that on the side line and also being able to have someone to call and ask questions, makes me more confident when I’m teaching them and makes sure I’m doing it the right way.”

Davis said having friends in the business is always a helpful thing.

“We are always looking for ways to get better,” he said. “And we use each other’s friendship to do that. That is what coaching is to me. There are no secrets. It is always good to bounce things off guys and get different opinions.”

Davis said he and Rushing’s friendship grew as last season progressed.

“We kept up with each other every week,” Davis said.

“On Friday nights we would text and ask how each other did and how certain things looked. It is good to have friends and to be able to see them do well.”

Davis also said that seeing the kids succeed in the system is a great way to cap it all off.

“When (the kids) see it work and you are over there saying, ‘Hey guys, they are doing this next time and we are about to do this and hit them in the mouth’, and it actually happens, the kids gain confidence in each other and it builds great team chemistry,” Davis said.

“It plays a big part.”

Rushing believes that the new wrinkles he plans to put in on defense will be dangerous come next season.

“Last year, we didn’t really teach it very well and we played base all year,” he said.

“But in this package here, now we are going to spend more time teaching it and do a better job coaching the fundamental techniques of it. Confidence wise for the kids with this — we could be really good.”