The Habersham County Board of Education unanimously voted to approve HCHS head football coach Michael Pollock’s resignation during a called meeting on Tuesday, November 18. Looking on from the audience are HCHS Athletic Director Geep Cunningham and HCHS Principal Wes McGee.
The search for a new Habersham Central High School head football coach is “off to a good start” according to Habersham Central High School Athletic Director Geep Cunningham. Cunningham met with the newly-formed coach search committee Tuesday after the county board of education formally accepted the resignation of head football coach Michael Pollock. Cunningham leads the search committee. Others on the five-member panel include HCHS principal Wes McGee, former NFL coach and Clarkesville resident Chan Gailey, former HCHS football players and WCON Radio sports announcers David Foster and Chris Black.
The Board of Education unanimously voted Tuesday, November 18, to accept Pollock’s resignation. He submitted his letter of resignation to Cunningham last week after two years on the job.
Pollock’s letter was officially presented to the BOE during a called meeting Tuesday morning. It states:
“With this letter, I hereby submit my resignation as head football coach and strength coach at Habersham Central High School. I want to thank you for the opportunity you have provided me to serve in my current positions in the athletic department. I wish you good luck and continued success.”
Sincerely,
Michael Pollock
After accepting Pollock’s resignation the board immediately began discussions with Cunningham about the search for Pollock’s replacement. The search committee is tasked with finding qualified candidates for the job. Final approval must come from the board of education.
Public input will be considered in the search for a new Habersham Central head football coach. The proposal to allow public input was presented by school board member Patsy Taylor. Superintendent Matthew Cooper suggested Cunningham work with Director of Secondary Schools Pam Dalton to create an online survey. Once completed, the survey will be posted on the school system’s website so that the public can have its say in the qualities and credentials they hope to see in a new coach. A similar approach was used by the BOE in its search for a new superintendent in 2012 after Judy Forbes retired.
Although the head football coaching job at Habersham Central wasn’t officially posted until yesterday, Cunningham says word of Pollock’s resignation spread quickly last week through local and social media and word of mouth. He’s already received a stack of resumes. The coach search committee began going through those resumes yesterday.
Cunningham says the committee will seek out qualified candidates for the job. He says they’ll have to wait until after the playoffs to start actively pursuing some candidates who are still coaching.
No timeline for hiring Pollock’s successor has been set.
