Coaches Carousel: Tattnall girls basketball, Twiggs County football, Veterans girls basketball

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          When Kurt Greene was pulled out of retirement to take over the Tattnall girls basketball program at the end of the 2020-21 school year, he brought a resume of winning at GHSA and GISA programs.

          And he was the fourth head coach in four years, taking over a program that had gone 6-18, 7-16, and 6-14.

          The Trojans went 15-10, 16-13, and 19-11 under Greene. They’ll try for a fourth straight winning season under a new head coach in 2024-25.

          Under the “parted ways” category of coaching changes, Greene resigned last month, although it appeared he was not going to be offered the chance to return.

          Athletics director – and boys basketball coach - Matt Chambless said Greene, hired by former athletics director Joey Hiller – was on a three-year contract, a rarity in high school sports - and it was up.

          “In my experience over the last 23, 24 years, everything has pretty much been a one-year contract,” Chambless said. “When I got here, he was in year 1.”

          Chambless said he didn’t think Greene was eyeing a long-term stint at Tattnall. The two went to lunch to discuss the program.

          “Basically it was a conversation about, ‘hey, it’s the end of your contract, let’s talk about the future, building the program,’” Chambless said. “At that luncheon we had, me and him, he resigned at that luncheon.

          “Me and Kurt got along great. No bad feelings there.”

          Greene, though, said he was told that some older players complained about his techniques and wouldn’t return to the team if he returned as head coach.

          “I was too hard, and sometimes demeaning to some of my players,” Greene said. “My old (Tattnall) players (said) if I was coaching, they would not play.”

          Believing that players are more important to the team than coaching, and not wanting the momentum of the last three years to be erased, he resigned, thought it was clear he wasn’t going to be offered the chance to return.

          “I got on some a little too hard,” said Greene, who said he only had yearly renewable contracts. “Never cussed ‘em, didn’t do that. I just coached hard. I didn’t coach soft. I don’t coach like I’m in a church.

          “When I was hired three years ago, I was hired to win. I wasn’t hired to babysit. I work hard. I have them do things that I know how they’re supposed to do it. When they don’t do it, I get on to ‘em.”

          “My old players who played for me at Windsor and Jones County and those places, they sit there and laugh and say, ‘You done got so soft,’” the 69-year-old said. “ ‘If we would have done the exact same thing they did, you would have killed us.’”

          Greene isn’t sure what’s next.

          “I ain’t no spring chicken,” he said. “My health is good, knock on wood, and I’m still enjoying doing it.”

Twiggs County snags Baldwin’s Cummings

          Westside graduate Roderick Cummings is the latest choice to try to turn around Twiggs County’s football program.

          The school announced his hiring last month. He succeeds interim coach Patrick Wray, who went 0-9 overall and 0-5 in Region 5-A/II play.

          Cummings is 11th head coach at Twiggs County this century, Dexter Copeland serving twice. He’s the sixth since Copeland went 1-9 in a one-year return in 2015.

          The Cobras have struggled since an 11-2 year in 2009, the final year of Copeland’s first stint, which covered nine seasons.

          Twiggs County’s lone winning season since then was 8-4 in 2016 under two-year coach Ashley Harden. The Cobras have struggled through seven winless or one-win seasons in the last 12 seasons, the program taking the 2020 COVID year off.

          The 2004 graduate of Westside went to to play college football at Albany State and was part of three SIAC championships with the Rams.

          Cumming spent several years as an assistant at Southwest.

          He joined the staff of then-head coach Jesse Hicks at Baldwin last summer and served as defensive coordinator

          The Macon native is married to Qualivia, and they have two boys.

Veterans’ Owens heading to Turner County

          One of the top girls basketball programs in Central Georgia is looking for a new head coach.

          Randall Owens, who kept the Warhawks rolling after the resignation in 2021 of Nicki Miranda, is heading to take over the program at Turner County, a Class A/Division II program in Ashburn, about 60 miles from Veterans.

          Turner County made the announcement Friday afternoon.

          The Warhawks went 9-17 in a rebuilding mode in 2021-22, Owens’ first year in charge. Then they went 24-5 and 24-7, 19-2 in Region 1-6A action.

          Veterans reached the 6A Final Four last season, and he has region titles at Veterans and Baldwin on his resume.

          Turner County announced last month that Will Johnson was taking over the boys program. Johnson went from Piedmont – where he was head boys basketball coach and assistant football coach, among other duties, covering four years – to Wheeler County in 2021-22 to Jeff Davis in 22-23.