The Georgia High School Association’s normally stable staff is taking on a new look with the recent hires of Jay Russell and Darrell Lane as associate directors, the retirement of Ernie Yarbrough and the resignation of Kevin Giddens effective in June.
Things will stay the same at the top as executive director Robin Hines signed a three-year extension last month after six years in the position.
Hines plans for Russell to coordinate football and for Lane, who will start later this month, to oversee basketball.
Hines re-hired Russell in March. Russell was working with the GHSA when Hines got the job in 2017 and had been second in charge to then-GHSA executive director Gary Phillips, who was forced out by the state legislature.
Russell helped Hines with the transition, especially with procedures and eligibility matters, before stepping down in 2018. Russell was a longtime former football coach and school administrator and is the son of former Georgia and Georgia Southern football coach Erk Russell.
Russell’s football duties have belonged to Giddens the past four seasons. A retired Colquitt County Schools athletic director, Giddens is leaving to be closer to Moultrie.
“I miss being home,” Giddens said. “That is the sole reason I’m leaving.” He will continue to coordinate the GHSA’s bass fishing as a part-timer.
Lane, the most recent hire, is a 30-year basketball official. He’ll take over basketball from Yarbrough and also manage volleyball.
“Just a really good guy who’s been a great volunteer for us for many years,” Hines said of Lane. “He’d expressed an interest in becoming part of us for years, and the time was right.”
Lane’s hire further diversifies the staff. There will be two African Americans (Lane and Carror Wright) and two females (Penny Pitts Mitchell and Tanya Anderson) among the six full-time associate directors, making for the first time in GHSA history that white males aren’t in the majority in those high positions.
The GHSA hired Wright in 2013 and Pitts in 2016 and promoted Anderson, a 28-year employee, in 2020. Russell and Don Corr will be the other associate directors returning full-time.
Yarbrough, who began working with the GHSA in 1992, will stay on part-time and assist with lacrosse, officials and event management.
“We all owe Ernie a debt of gratitude for his great work over the years,” Hines said. “And what a great job that Kevin has done over the last five. We’re really going to miss him.”
Hines’ return is no surprise, though he concedes he wasn’t looking beyond six years when hired. He had retired once after having been a superintendent, principal, athletic director and coach.
“I enjoy what I do and who I do it with, and I’m talking about member schools, the athletic directors, the administrators and of course our staff,” Hines said. “I feel good and think we’re making progress and constantly finding ways to get better. I’m not ready to not do it.”
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