Habersham Central High School Head Football Coach Michael Pollock has resigned. Habersham County Superintendent of Schools Matthew Cooper confirmed Pollock’s resignation in a statement:
“I can confirm that Coach Pollock turned in a letter this morning to Athletic Director, Geep Cunningham, resigning from all of his coaching responsibilities at Habersham Central. This letter of resignation will be presented to the board of education for official action on Tuesday, November 18th @ 7:30 a.m.”
Pollock has been the HCHS head football coach for two years. The school’s varsity football team posted one win during that time.
Coach Pollock was hired on March 11, 2013 to succeed Stuart Cunningham who also resigned. Pollock, who played UGA football as a walk-on, was hired after being fired from his previous job as football coach at Americus-Sumter High School in south Georgia. In a widely publicized incident Pollock allegedly kicked a player in the backside during practice at Americus-Sumter High. He was fired after serving a month long suspension.
Despite questions and concerns that were raised about that incident during the hiring process, the Habersham County School Board unanimously voted to hire Pollock and he stepped into the job facing big challenges. Perhaps his toughest challenge, next to the initial round of scrutiny he faced, was how to successfully carry a team from a school the size of Habersham Central through the highly-competitive 6AAAAAA high school football region.
It was a formula for success Pollock never found.
He came to Habersham with a 36-17 overall winning record – 21-6 in region play – and leaves with a record of 37-34, 22-23. Pollock’s coaching history includes 16 total state playoff appearances and until coming to Central he had never had a losing record.
Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper says Pollock did not state his reasons for resigning in the letter he submitted on Thursday. Coopers says Pollock resigned just his coaching duties; he’s still teaching math at Habersham Central High School. Pollock’s teaching contract runs through May 27, 2015.
