Special to the WJH
THOMASTON — Pierce County High School was one of 111 athletic departments in the Georgia High School Association who did not receive a fine for coaches missing mandatory online rules clinics during the 2024-25 school year.
Of GHSA’s 466 member schools, 356 got flagged at least once. The percentage of clinics missed is not easily computed, but it’s probably around three percent.
“When you look across state, 1,200 (clinic no-shows) may sound like a lot, that’s a small compared to all coaches,” GHSA executive director Tim Scott said Tuesday, April 15.
This troubling concern has the GHSA doubling its fine for coaches from $100 to $200 after coaches paid $122,000 for 1,220 clinic no-shows last year. The fine increase was approved during the Monday, April 14 executive committee meeting.
PCHS, Clinch County and Appling County were among the local athletic departments who had no coaches miss a clinic.
Area schools paying fines were Wayne County ($700), Coffee ($600), Bacon County ($400), Ware County ($300), Atkinson County ($100), Brantley County ($100) and Charlton County ($100).
Region 1-AAAA members joining Wayne County and Ware County with assessed fines were Benedictine ($600), New Hampstead ($300), Perry ($300) and Warner Robins ($200).
Outside of PCHS and Appling County, Region 3-AA members fined were Cook ($400), Tattnall County ($400), Crisp County ($300) and Savannah Arts Academy ($200).
Region 1-A schools fined besides Bacon County and Brantley County were Jeff Davis ($400), Thomasville ($400) and Worth County ($400). Berrien and Fitzgerald had no fines assessed.
Going a step further, the GHSA no longer will let coaches work until they complete their clinics. In the past, they could pay their fines and still join their teams.
“We feel it’s important coaches complete the clinic, so I made the recommendation to the board of trustees last fall that we up the fine,” said Scott. “The trustees agreed and said they wanted to more than just double the fine to put some teeth in it. So now you have a deadline to complete the clinic or you can’t coach. We want all of them to know the rules and provide the best for their athletes.”
Lambert and Westminster led the state with 15 missed clinics apiece ($1,500 fines) during 2023-24, the most recently completed academic year.
Clinics are sports-specific and typically take less than 30 minutes to finish. They consist of slideshows and videos. The GHSA schedules the clinics in threeweek windows leading up to each sport’s season.
Coaches who miss these clinics will have 10 days to make amends. Schools found to be allowing a coach to work without completing a clinic after the deadline will be issued a lack-of-institutional-control fine.
Coaches who have not completed clinics also will forfeit their GHSA passes, which give them free admission into all GHSA events statewide.
Among all sports, football drew the most missed clinic penalties by with 151, although football also has the most coaches. Some schools have more than 20 assistants in that sport.
