By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          So, Coach Hodges, how’s retirement going?

          “Uh, well, I haven’t yet,” former Dodge County head football coach and athletics director Rex Hodges said Sunday. “I’ve been busy.”

          Hodges announced in late March that he was stepping down as head football coach and athletics director at Dodge County, and retiring as a full-time educator.

          He didn’t sound like somebody who was done coaching, and he wasn’t.

          Hodges was set to join the Dublin staff as an assistant, a transaction that would become official after Hodges had been retired for a month. He would join as part of the state education system plan where a retiree can work and collect 49 percent of their full-time salary without affective benefits.

          Dublin will have to look for somebody else, because Hodges has another gig.

          Dodge County superintendent.

          It’s all come about in less than a month, starting when superintendent Michael Ward submitted his resignation at a May 6 board meeting, effective at the end of the month.

          “Mr. Ward, my dealings with him, he did a good job,” Hodges said. “For family reasons, I can see. He’s got two young boys back in Harris County, and he wanted to get back over there with them. I can understand that.”

          Hodges, who was an assistant principal at Dodge County High while serving as a football assistant under John Peacock and Greg Robinson, mentioned to a few folks that he was interested in helping.

          A few conversations later, Hodges is the superintendent.

          “I felt it was kind of something I wwas interested in. I got the opportunity, how we gotta get to work on it.

          “It’s like anything else. Therea re hurdles you got to get over and we’ve got to get to work on and see what we can get done.”

          The superintendent position has been one of some turnover in the county, Ward leaving after a year.

          But Hodges isn’t deterred, having had a good relationship with superintendents and the board in general.

          “Those guys and ladies don’t get as much credit as they deserve for the service they do,” he said. “I always felt like they supported me, and what we were doing athletically, as much as they could.”

          And while stability in upper management is always important, Hodges thinks the system has fared well.

          “Our system is a really good system,” he said. “We’ve got a lot ofgoodthings going for us, and a lot of good people working in the system.

          “Alll I want to do is pitch in and help those folks do their jobs and give the county something they can be proud of. Which I’m already proud of our school system.”

          He said he’s on a 13-month contract, so he said he’s interim.

          “Well, everybody kinda is, I guess” he said.

          What about when those 13 months are up?

          “Who knows?” Hodges said. “But like I told some people, I’ve been working on a one-year contract for 36 years. That’s nothing new. I just want to do a good job.”

 

GMC’s Simpson leaving football, AD jobs for Warren County

          Steven Simpson is increasing his commute.

          In the process, he’s decreasing time away from his family.

          The GMC Prep head football coach and athletics director is leaving his alma mater for the defensive coordinator position at Warren County.

          For most of this spring, after the school made an in-season change, Simpson also served as head boys soccer coach.

          “It’ll give me more time with my kids,” said the father of a 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. “I don’t have to be the guy that flips all the light switches for every sporting event and everything else.”

          Simpson will remain in the same region and sub-region as GMC, Region 7-A/B.

          The Screaming Devils are middlin’ right now, not having cracked .500 since 2011 in the one year of head coach David Daniels. They’re on their eighth head coach since 2000, and are 15-45 under head coach Cherard Freeman.

          But the 5-5 mark in 2018 was their best since that 7-3 year.

          Simpson will have about a 45-minute commute, and with two children at GMC, he’ll still see the Bulldogs play something at some point.

          The 39-year-old is a John Milledge Academy – he was a high school teammate of current JMA head coach J.T. Wall, both playing there under new Westfield coach Bruce Lane - and GMC college grad.

          He has been athletics director for seven years and head football coach – with a minimal staff that is now only Tommy Howell - for six. Along the way, he was head track coach, head baseball coach, and assistant basketball coach for boys and girls

While quickly admitting he had roles in on some areas, Simpson pointed out with pride 19 different GHSA titles during his run as AD, from Literary and One-Act play to basketball, softball, track and soccer.

          Thus, fewer duties and a similar salary aside, Simpson said it was a tough decision.

          “My mom started working there when I was 2, so I’ve basically been around the school my entire life,” he said. “I met my wife there. I proposed to my wife on the court between basketball games, because we were both coaching basketball.

          “My kids are still going to be there. It’s tough to leave. GMC’s home.”

 

Tattnall seeking another basketball coach

          About four months after Tattnall found out it had to find a new head girls basketball coach, the school is searching for a boys basketball coach.

          Jarvis Smith last Tuesday was introduced as the new head boys coach at East Jackson, a Class 3A school located just south of Commerce.

          He Tweeted on Thursday that it was official.

          He replaces David Akin, who followed David Boyd, who followed B turner. Smith will be the Eagles’ third head coach since 2014-15.

          Akin went 28-52 with one playoff trip, and resigned in April, citing family issues. He worked at East Jackson, his wife at Parkview, and they lived in the middle.

          Boyd, a highly successful coach with six state championships at Campbell, Tucker, Berkmar, and Milton, coached the Eagles to two playoff season, and they hosted a playoff game for the first time.

          Smith started at Tattnall in 2014-15 after serving as head men’s basketball coach at Brewton-Parker and boys head coach at Robert Toombs Academy.

          A few years in, he added the title of assistant athletics director. He traded administration positions, taking over as dean of students in 2018.

          According to information provided to MaxPreps, Smith went 75-52 in five seasons.