October 14, 2009

Dallas Jackson
Rivals High Senior Analyst

Dallas Jackson is the high school sports expert for RivalsHigh.com. Send him a question or comment at DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.com and follow him at twitter.com/rivalshigh.

With six national championships in its storied history, Valdosta (Ga.) High always has been viewed as a big-time high school program.

On Tuesday, it became big time in a different way.

Valdosta City Schools Superintendent Bill Cason fired Coach Rick Tomberlin in the middle of the season - just four days after a crushing 57-15 loss to cross-town rival Lowndes.

Tomberlin will be allowed to finish the season, but he will not be welcomed back.

"I'm in shock," Tomberlin told Christian Malone of The Valdosta Daily Times. "I did everything I could do here. I've never worked harder in my life."

Tomberlin has been a part of coaching for the better part of 27 seasons and had a 219-100 career record, but he is just 19-20 at Valdosta since taking over before the start of the 2006 season.

At a school with a national-record 863 wins (against 205 losses and 34 ties), that wasn't good enough.

And that has been a familiar refrain at Valdosta. Tomberlin will be the third coach since 2002 to either resign or not have contracts renewed by the district. Mike O'Brien, was voted out by the Valdosta Board of Education in Dec. 2002. His successor, Rick Darlington, resigned after the 2005 season.

Despite a rocky start to his career at Valdosta, going 1-9 in his first year, Tomberlin seemed to have the team headed in the right direction.

"I think I'm leaving (the program) a lot better than it was when I got here," Tomberlain told the paper.

The perception of the program may be the biggest hurdle.

The city plays host to The Winnersville Classic and was selected as "Titletown" by ESPN last season. Though the school has won 23 state championships, it hasn't done so since 1998.

In recent years, it has been surpassed by Lowndes (ranked No. 33 in this week's RivalsHigh 100). And perhaps for good reason. Lowndes' enrollment is more than 1,000 students higher than Valdosta, which is now one of the smallest 5A schools in Georgia.

Despite this, Friday's loss was stunning.

It marked the first time since 1963 that the team had yielded more than 50 points in a game. In fact, it has only yielded 40 on two occasions in the past 35 years. The 38-point deficit was the largest since Valdosta fell 40-0 in 1974.

Tomberlin said the on-field results may not have been what many in the community expected, but he felt recruiting and education has been on the rise.

Tomberlin estimated that 80 percent of his players on the team "have all A's and B's, or no more than one C."

Despite the decision Tomberlin will finish out the year with the team and expects to have this team in the playoffs.

"I want to finish the season,'' Tomberlin told the paper. "I don't want to quit on my kids. I owe it to them, and love them, and I want to see them through whatever happens, whether it's the end of the regular season, or the end of the playoffs, whether it's three games, five games, eight games, whatever the case may be.

"I'm really going to work hard these next three games. Nothing's going to change. I'm going to help these kids all I can with scholarships and colleges."

The Wildcats are on a bye this week but finish the regular season with games at Douglass (Georgia) Coffee, home to Tifton (Georgia) County and close the season on the road at Warner Robins (Georgia) Houston County.

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