VALDOSTA — Rick Tomberlin has coached his final game as Valdosta High School’s head football coach.
On Monday night, Tomberlin was told by Valdosta City Schools superintendent Dr. Bill Cason that his contract as the head football coach at Valdosta High School was not going to be renewed.
After Monday night’s Valdosta Board of Education meeting — which was held to discuss whether Valdosta High’s athletic teams should play in AAAA or petition to move up to AAAAA next year — Cason pulled Tomberlin and his wife aside, and informed them that the decision he made in October to not renew Tomberlin’s contract stood.
When the contracts for the 2010-11 school year go out this spring, Tomberlin will not receive a contract to be the head football coach.
“(Cason) called me in and said, ‘Well, I don’t have good news. The decision stands,’” Tomberlin said. “‘I said, ‘Well, I’m surprised.’ He just kind of shrugged his shoulders. That’s all he said.”
“I’m very disappointed,” Tomberlin added. “I appreciate our good friends that came out and supported me (at the Board meeting) ... I don’t agree with it. I think it’s a big mistake, and I don’t understand the logic ... I’m hurt and surprised.”
Cason declined comment after the meeting.
Tomberlin ends his career at Valdosta with a 22-21 record over four seasons, and a 21-12 record over the past three years. This season, the Wildcats went 7-4, and made the playoffs for the second time in three years. Their season ended with a 28-9 loss to Newnan in the first round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs last Friday.
“I did the very best I could. I can look at myself in the mirror, and know that I did the very best job I could possibly do,” Tomberlin said. “I love the kids. I’d like to have won a lot more games. I’d like to have had more success. I think we’ve done some real good things off the field, and on the field. We won seven games (in 2009), we’ve been in the playoffs two of the last three years.”
Tomberlin has a career record of 222-100 in 27 years as a head coach, and has won three state championships.
On Oct. 12, four days after Valdosta had lost 57-15 to crosstown rival Lowndes in the Winnersville Classic, Cason met with Tomberlin, and informed him that his contract as football coach would not be renewed next season. After Cason’s meeting with Tomberlin, the Wildcats won their final three games, and made the playoffs, leading many to wonder if Tomberlin would be given another chance.
At Monday’s meeting, the Board went into executive session and discussed personnel issues. But they did not vote on Tomberlin’s status — because it was not an issue they could vote on. When the decision is made to not renew the contract of an employee of the Valdosta City School System, a recommendation is made by their building supervisor — in this case, Valdosta High principal Gary Boling — and then Cason evaluates the recommendation and makes a decision. The Board does not have a vote on the issue.
In December 2002, the Valdosta Board of Education voted to approve then-superintendent Sam Allen’s recommendation that then-Valdosta head coach Mike O’Brien should be fired. The difference between O’Brien’s situation and Tomberlin’s is terminology — O’Brien was fired, an action that required the Board’s vote, while Tomberlin’s contract is not being renewed, and when a contract is not renewed, the Board does not vote on that.
Tomberlin’s status as Valdosta’s athletic director and as a teacher at Valdosta High School has not been discussed yet. For now, only his contract as head football coach will not be renewed.
Since Cason told him in October that his contract would not be renewed, Tomberlin has said he will weigh his options for the future.
Tomberlin will be paid his normal salary through the end of the school year. Contracts expire after the school year ends.
The search for a new head football coach has not begun yet at Valdosta.
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