NEW ORLEANS — The story of the triumphant Edna Karr Cougars Football Team premiered on HULU this week in the five-part docuseries, “Algiers, America.”
It’s an intimate look into the lives of some of the teams’ players and how their beloved head coach, Brice Brown, serves as both a mentor and guide on and off the field.
The series is directed by former WWL-TV photographer Jackson Fager, who after spending many years working in conflict zones while being headquartered in Africa for VICE NEWS learned these players were fighting battles in their own communities.
Coach Brice Brown can often be seen standing on the front lines of those battles, as he has been for the past 18 years; nine of them as head coach of the team. He led the Cougars to four state championships in a row, the only predominantly African American public school in the country to do so.
Today, he’s focused on a new set of players.
“That class is done,” Brown said. “My vision and my focus is on 2023 right now.”
Not easily swayed by the wins, Brice says his focus tends to be on the success of his players off the field.
“The wins and losses don’t mean anything to me. The championship rings mean nothing to me. My whole purpose is to try to give these kids an avenue through sports to make it out,” Brown said.
It’s that thinking that puts this high school football coach ahead of the rest and got the attention of the Director of “Algiers, America” Jackson Fager.
“He is the most genuine person I’ve ever met. He has a huge heart. He cares deeply about these kids,” Fager said. “The love that he shows to all of them, they feel that more than anything. That’s what makes him so special.”
That love will be on display in a five-part docuseries airing on HULU.
It not only shows the grind and the grit of the championship winning team, but allows the players to tell their own story. It also shows the investment he makes into his players.
“I think if you look at it entirely, they are investing their time with us to,” Brown said. “So, we need to reciprocate that for them to feel like we’re not using them for athletic purposes, but we care about them. Not only while they’re here, but when they leave.”
For many of the players, when they do leave, they do very big things. To make it to that level, Coach Brice and his staff say they are in a year-round battle for some of his players to simply make it out of their own neighborhoods.
In 2016, Former standout player Tollette “Tonka” George was one of those players who did make it out, graduating from Alcorn State University.
In 2016 he returned to his neighborhood in Algiers and was murdered that same year.
The impact of his death would be felt through the entire football program and would ultimately lead to change in how Brown coaches on the field and mentors off.
“Anytime we lose a kid, we always going to take the brunt of it,” Brown said. Are we doing enough? Are we preaching enough? Are we teaching enough? Are we reaching enough? That is the question that run through my mind all day.”
Jackson spent the last three years documenting what they’re doing and why it’s working. He returned to New Orleans to reveal the battles these players face off the field after spending several years in conflict zones himself as bureau chief in Africa for Vice News.
“Through all my years of covering conflicts, one thing that always stood out to me is that everywhere I went there were always people who were standing up and fighting for their community," Jackson said. “Over the last three years, I’ve witnessed something truly beautiful. Just watching all these people have gone through. All this adversity. To wake up and decide to be the good people they are. To succeed at the level, they do. It leaves me hopeful.”
For Coach Brown, the docuseries is merely a glimpse into how they maintain that hope year-round, for each wave of students who play for his team.
“Let’s look at these kids and see how they’re being saved. Even through some of the adverse situations they’ve been in, maybe those kids can give another kid who is going through the same thing and comes from the same neighborhood and situation some hope.”
You can watch “Algiers, America” on HULU.
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