Valdosta Ousts Rick Tomberlin
In the Lowndes-Valdosta rivalry, losing is considered a sin by both sides. Do it seven times and it becomes well nigh unpardonable.
That’s what Rick Tomberlin has done. He has coached at Valdosta since 2006, losing all four times to Lowndes — including last week’s embarrassing 57-15 debacle. He coached at Lowndes from 1989 through 1991, and lost all three times to Valdosta. That makes him 0-7 no matter on which side of the field he stood. And while eight is enough everywhere else, at Valdosta it would be one too many.
That’s why the nation’s winningest high school football program is looking for another coach today. If it’s a surprise that Tomberlin won’t be on the Valdosta sideline come the 2010 season opener, the timing should be the least surprising part of it.
Word out of Valdosta is that the Valdosta Board of Education has decided not to bring him back next season. Tomberlin was informed of the decision Tuesday afternoon and relayed word to his players. He’ll coach through the end of the season, one that doesn’t appear likely to end in the school’s 24th state championship.
Lowndes took its frustrations out on Valdosta a week after suffering its first loss of the season, a 10-7 defeat at Northside-Warner Robins, derailed talk of an easy state championship and national rankings.
But the Vikings’ easy win was the last straw for Tomberlin, who suffered through a 1-9 season in 2006 and a 5-5 campaign last year. Those non-playoff seasons were sandwiched around a 9-3 run in 2007, which took them to the second round of the Class AAAAA playoffs. But at Valdosta, whose 847 all-time wins are the most in the nation, much more is expected. The Wildcats are a pedestrian 4-3 after consecutive losses to Colquitt County and Lowndes. With an earlier loss at Northside, Tomberlin’s team was staring at a fourth-place finish in Region 1-AAAAA at best. With an Oct. 23 game coming up at Coffee, another region loss potentially could knock them out of the playoff picture for the third time in four years.
Tomberlin, who has a 219-100 record in 27 seasons according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, knows what the rivalry means better than most and parlayed the most successful time in his Georgia high school career — the 14 years he spent at Washington County, where he won three Class AA championships (1994, 1996 and 1997) — into the job at Valdosta. But he wasn’t able to turn Bazemore-Hyder Stadium in Valdosta into the House of Pain that he created for opponents at Washington County. And it cost him dearly.
Related Posts:
- Reclassification: New school enrollment numbers released
- Class AAAAA Playoff Picture Begins to Clear
- Football: AAAAA 2nd round previews
- Football: Final Regular Season Poll Released
- Football: Weekly Coaches Polls Released