Coaching legend steps down, and almost nobody outside of his community knew, for months, but Wilkinson County hoops is under new management

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Aaron Geter Jr. had thought about giving up the Wilkinson County basketball job for a few years before finally doing it last spring, after 20 seasons.

Photo: Wilkinson County Facebook

          There was an epic coaching change in the spring, and hardly anybody knows about it.
          Each spring, the Wilkinson County boys basketball team make some noise, usually in a state championship game.
          That was pretty much been the case since Aaron Geter Jr. took over as head coach for the 1998-99 season. That includes in March of last year when the Warriors won their 10th state title.
          The noise was quiet, but the impact no less huge, back in May when the program underwent a massive transition.

It was a quiet, very quiet, transfer of power as head of the Wilkinson County boys basketball program last spring, with a graduate taking over for phenomenally successful Aaron Geter Jr.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          Geter surrendered the reigns of the program – remaining at superintendent of Wilkinson County schools - and handed them over to a familiar name and face, assistant coach and former standout player Xavier Whipple.
          How quiet was it?
          Google "Aaron Geter" and "Xavier Whipple" and there are less than 60 items, a few fairly current and only two – a Dublin Courier-Herald preseason football section story on the football coaching change with the Warriors and an October preseason state basketball preview on sandysspiel.com noting “reports that Dr. Aaron Geter has stepped down” and Whipple took over – mentioning a change.
          And there was nary a word on the state's primary high school sports message board, 247sports.com, Georgia Prep Report. WGXA-TV in Macon did a story Friday focusing on Whipple as a first-year coach.
          So a change at the top of one of the state's most successful and noteworthy programs of the past two decades couldn’t have come with less fanfare.
          “That’s kind of the way we wanted,” Geter said a month ago during a casual conversation at the Wilkinson County-FPD game.
          A phone interview with Geter that was set up for Friday afternoon failed to materialize as attempts to reach Geter were unsuccessful. After that engaging chat during the Warriors’ win over the Vikings, Geter said he was open to talking about the decision to step down (this story will be updated if the interview materializes).
          The Warriors’ trip to the GHSA Class A Public semifinals on Saturday afternoon comes just short of 10 months after Geter told Whipple that this time was it.
          “Nobody knew but him and I,” Whipple said. “I don’t think even his wife knew. We had a talk in the office, and I think the next day or so, he surprised everybody and told them he was stepping down.”

Xavier Whipple was on the Warriors’ first state title teams under Aaron Geter Jr.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          “Everybody” is certainly a relative term in this case, and “everybody” pretty much kept it secret. And then who started showing up in basketball games in a black and white striped shirt and black pants with a whistle hanging from his neck?
          Aaron Geter Jr.

Massive success
          Just in basketball and success terms alone, the coaching change was huge.
          Wilkinson County won the GHSA Class A title in 1999 and 2000, Geter’s first and second seasons. Then they won the AA trophy in 2002, hit a drought of four years before winning it back in Class A in 2007.
          Then the Warriors watched rival Hancock Central take a year later. Wilkinson County proceeded to take Class A state championships in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018, the last five in Class A public.

Geter was celebrated at last year’s basketball banquet.

Photo: Wilkinson County Facebook

          During the 2015-16 year, he passed the 500-win mark.
          Geter’s numbers are fairly staggering. Wilkinson County’s highest loss total under him was seven, once, and the Warriors won the state championship anyway.  In 20 seasons, they lost more than five games only six times, countering that with undefeated seasons in 2001-02 and 2010-11, and a one-loss season in 2006-07.
          Geter graduated in 1987 from Mercer, 26 years before being inducted into the school’s sports hall of fame. Known as much as “Pete” or “Dr. Geter” as anything, he is 17th on the Mercer’s all-time scoring list and eighth all-time in assists. He was the Bears’ top free-throw shooter for two seasons.
          Wilkinson County was a quality program before Geter’s arrival, with fairly regular trips to the semifinals under Isaac Jones in the 1990s and Sweet 16 visits even more consistently in the late 1970s, the 1980s, and 1990s, according to the Georgia High School Basketball Project (www.ghsbp.com).
          The program took off, with three titles in his four years.

A busy rumor mill
          Also eventually taking off: scores of rumors and speculation about recruiting, message board authors complaining about how many Wilkinson County varsity players in a given year didn’t grow up in the county, and transferred in upon reaching a high level of basketball ability.
          There were complaints, including some to the GHSA, but no official actions taken. Along the way, Geter became Wilkinson County’s superintendent in 2009. Nothing changed, in either success on the court or widespread rumors off.
          The recruiting rumors got company in March and November of 2017 with stories in the Macon Telegraph uncovering much more than players moving in, items ranging from paying players, inappropriate relationships or contacts by coaches with students, rape by a player, failure to report a variety of incidents with the Professional Standards Commission, among other things.
          The Telegraph filed a variety of typical information-seeking requests, and had the most trouble getting information from the school district. The county’s board of education never investigated nor, publicly, doubted Geter.
          The PSC did reprimand Geter in 2015, the paper reported, after a complaint filed in 2013 regarding Geter’s failure to report aforementioned relationships and incidents. The stories were the first to address any improprieties at Wilkinson County, but Whipple defends his former coach and its program.
          “I feel like that has been a lot of talk, just people talking and running their mouths about different things,” Whipple said in about a six-minute defense.
          He said he hasn’t seen any recruiting, pointed out the growing problem in the state of transfers, particularly 90 minutes to the north. To be sure, Wilkinson County basketball isn’t the only program in Central Georgia that gets accused of some level of recruiting or enticement.
          “In Atlanta, you have kids that transfer yearly and go to a different school,” Whipple said. “You have parents from here that take their kids, leaving here, and take them to Stratford, and take them to (another school) because they have a better baseball program, better football program, or whatever the case may be.
          “I haven't seen anything, I haven't been around anything that Dr. Geter's done (wrong),” Whipple said. “We've had parents come in, meet with Dr. Geter, and (almost) every time he's done it, he's invited me in to sit down and talk to the parents. One, he always wanted somebody in there.”
          And Geter wanted the parents and player to meet somebody who had played on the next level at a major program to understand expectations.
          Whipple also said there’s simply that faction that doesn’t like successful people.
          “People have been trying to ruin Dr. Geter's reputation,” he said. “It's sad that you have people out there that can't celebrate other people's success. They just want to see you down and done.”

Winding down had started
          Before the stories and additional scrutiny, though, Geter had by many accounts already started thinking about retiring from the court. Whipple said the topic had come up the past few years, and Geter would seem close to stepping back before changing his mind.
          Whipple was part of Geter’s first teams, and first championship teams. He played for four years at LSU, spent a little time trying to latch on with the NBA’s development league, took some time off, returned to school, and then got a call, and soon enough, Whipple’s coaching career began at his high school alma mater.
           “I like to tell people that Dr. Geter hadn’t won anything until he got here and got me,” Whipple said with a laugh. “It’s been like a marriage. When he got here, we kind of bonded, and have actually done some great things together.”
          Whipple said he feels like he has some fingerprints on all but one of the 10 state championships won by Wilkinson County under Geter, that one in 2006-07.
           “I was on the first two teams,” the 36-year-old said. “That team that came after me, I felt like we had been playing together all the way up. Those were my guys, and I felt like I really had a big part to do with them after I left.”

Nobody knew that less than 52 weeks ago, this would be the last time Geter - in the back to the left - would be celebrating a state title as Wilkinson County’s head coach.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          The Warriors and future Alabama guard Senario Hillman won while Whipple was still at LSU. The rest have come since Whipple joined the staff.
          His presence likely made Geter’s decision a little easier.
           “We actually had that conversation,” Whipple said. “He needed to know whether I was going to take the position. If not, he was going to try to go one more year.”
          Geter certainly seemed to have the same intensity in winning his final state title as he did his first, the Warriors edging Montgomery County last March at the Macon Coliseum. But quietly, a month or so later, Geter decided it was time.
          How quietly?
          The Wilkinson County Board of Education website lists when meetings are and were held, but unlike many such sites, lists only dates for summer 2018 meetings, and the archive lists dates from March to August 2018. Neither has any information or links to an agenda or minutes.
          While the high school's website has assorted fields for district news, they total only a few items and don’t appear to be updated regularly.
          The “news” link on the superintendent’s office page is empty, as is “archived stories.” Assorted Wilkinson County schools Facebook pages have no mention.
          Just like that, the winner of 553 games against only 72 losses – a mind-blowing winning percentage of 88.5 – was done, to be succeeded by a rookie head coach. So to say a major personnel change couldn’t have been executed much more under the radar is hardly an understatement.
          The superintendent is still, however, on the basketball court on most high school game nights.
          As a referee. It may be only fitting in this tale that one of the state’s most successful basketball coaches in decades turns in his dapper game-night attire for a whistle and striped shirt.
          That, no doubt, is one eyebrow-raising transition.
          Not to say Geter isn’t undergoing some withdrawal. Earlier this week, he took in the second half of Stratford’s girls home playoff game against Calvary Day. He was pretty calm while taking in that Warriors’ visit to FPD a month ago.
          Not one foot-stomp, minimal fidgeting, and only a few frowns or grimaces.
          “The Baldwin game,” said senior De’Marcus Mims, “he was about out on the court.”

Definitely different coaches, same goals
          Whipple is shorter than Geter, less demonstrative during a game, and perhaps more instructing.
          “He doesn’t stomp his foot much,” Mims said. “(Otherwise), they’re right there together.”
          The priorities are the same, particularly on defense, but Whipple has some different ideas.
          “We run a little bit different offense, a little bit different defense,” standout senior guard Jaylon Lamar said. “We run a lot of stuff (to) get you ready for the next level. We push the ball up the floor just like we did last year.”

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          Added Mims: “The expectations are the same. … You got more freedom with (Whipple).”
          And there’s a little more levity, like when the topic of Whipple getting on the court for some old-school show-‘em-how-it’s-done instruction and go against players.
          Mims: “He don’t want none of that. He don’t want that.”
          Whipple: “I try to keep their confidence up, so I don’t.”
          After the 60-46 win over FPD, Geter and some friends met up with Whipple and then the team, which celebrated a Warrior birthday with some cake. The new head coach thinks the old head coach is at peace.
          “He loves where he is right now,” Whipple said. “Every time you see him, he'll be smiling. He's comfortable where he is right now. He has me in this position, and we're doing well, and he can still kind feel like he's part of the program. We talk almost daily.”
          Geter also remains tied to his college alma mater, and makes several Mercer men’s basketball games each season. He said during that conversation at FPD that he expects to coach again, and wouldn’t mind the college level. Whipple doesn’t think Geter is done coaching yet, either.
          For now, he’s watching and advising and officiating.
          The GHSA tournament resumes on Saturday, and Geter plans to be at Valdosta State to watch the Warriors take on undefeated Calhoun County, the winner advancing to the Macon Coliseum for next week’s state championships.
          The Coliseum as often as not the past two decades has been Wilkinson County West with the Warriors’ regular visits to play for a title, like less than 52 weeks ago. But they’re back, with a new coach utilizing some new philosophies with the same results.
          “We try to match the energy we had last year, because we won state last year,” Lamar said. “That’s the same thing we’re trying to do this year.”