Fired Valdosta football coach looking for answers

Alan Rodemaker concerned by board vote on racial lines.

Alan Rodemaker, who was fired this week as Valdosta’s football coach, said his dismissal was unjust and that he’ll consider all options toward getting his job back.

The Valdosta school board voted 5-4 to dismiss Rodemaker despite the team’s 10-3 finish in 2019 and a 36-17 overall record in four seasons. In 2016, Rodemaker’s first year as head coach, Valdosta won its first state title in 18 years.

“I’ve never been reprimanded, never been called on the carpet for anything by my superiors, never been told what I didn’t do right,” Rodemaker said. “I just got voted out. Nobody has given me a reason.”

School board officials have declined to discuss Rodemaker’s firing publicly, calling it a personnel issue. Rodemaker said he was concerned that the board vote went along racial lines. The five who voted against Rodemaker, who is white, are African Americans. The four who voted to retain Rodemaker are white.

Valdosta’s 24 state titles are the most in Georgia history and 932 victories the most in the nation.

Dalton coach wins NFL Shula Coach of Year Award: Matt Land of Dalton is the winner of the Don Shula High School Coach of the Year Award, the NFL announced this week. The award honors high school football coaches for character, service and on-field success.

Through the years, Land and his family have provided a home to students in need. One was Yvenson Vignier, a senior defensive back on the 2019 team. Vignier lost his home in Haiti during an earthquake.

Land, an alumnus of Dalton, became head coach in 2010. Under Land, Dalton has won three region titles.

The award’s 32 finalists, each chosen by an NFL team, spent last week at the Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida, as the NFL’s guests. Land will be the NFL’s guest again Sunday at the Super Bowl in Miami.

Seven former Georgia players in Super Bowl: Seven former Georgia high school football players are on the rosters of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, who will play in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The Chiefs have wide receivers Tyreek Hill (Coffee County), Demarcus Robinson (Peach County) and Mecole Hardman (Elbert County), offensive tackle Cam Erving (Colquitt County) and placekicker Harrison Butker (Westminster). The 49ers have defensive lineman Ronald Blair (Greene County) and running back Jerick McKinnon (Sprayberry).

Hill, Robinson and Hardman have 116 receptions for 1,847 yards among them for the Chiefs. Hardman made the Pro Bowl as a return man. Butker has made 34 of 38 field-goal attempts. Erving is a reserve. Blair and McKinnon are on injured reserve.

Columbia remembers Kobe Bryant visit: Kobe Bryant’s visit to a DeKalb County high school 13 years ago was remembered this week in the wake of the NBA legend’s death.

In 2007, Bryant was leading the NBA in scoring, and Columbia High’s boys basketball team was defending its Class AAAA championship. Nike sponsored both and arranged for Bryant to visit the school when the Lakers were in town to play the Hawks.

“He talked with them about how it took hard work and dedication to excel both on the court and in the classroom,” Columbia coach Phil McCrary said.

Some students invited Bryant to a Columbia game, and he surprisingly obliged and sat behind Columbia’s bench. Jordan Lemons, now a paraprofessional at Columbia, was a starter on that Columbia team.

“We got to play a game in front of one of the all-time great NBA players that night,” Lemons said. “That is a memory no one can take away from us. It is still something the people at Columbia take pride in to this day.”

Bryant perished with eight others, including his 13-yearold daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter crash in Southern California on Sunday.