Valdosta's Tomberlin hopes for reconciliation

By Todd Holcomb

For the AJC

Valdosta’s cheerleaders put up gold-and-black banners on the rail of their cheering section Friday night. One read: “Tight Like a Family.’’

If they meant their fans, that was a stretch.

“We’re split,’’ said David Waller, one of coach Rick Tomberlin’s biggest supporters. “I’m really upset about the fact he was fired in the middle of season. There are probably some who are happy they fired him when they did.’’

After leading at halftime, Valdosta lost to Newnan, Class AAAAA’s third-ranked team, 28-9 in what might be the embattled coach’s final game in a town called Winnersville.

Tomberlin hoped his job didn’t depend on an upset.

“I’ll never beg,’’ Tomberlin said earlier in the day, “but I’m going to fight for my job. I’d like to be head coach at Valdosta next year.”

Tomberlin was fired last month after Valdosta lost to its archrival Lowndes 57-15. Finishing 7-4 and making the playoffs out of Region 1-AAAAA, the state’s toughest region, wasn’t good enough at a school that has won a record 23 state championships, albeit none since 1998.

Tomberlin met earlier this week in a closed session with the school board and made his case for reconciliation. A decision could come next week.

“I don’t think one win will make a difference,’’ Berke Holtzclaw said from the Valdosta sideline at halftime, when Valdosta led 9-7. “There’s a small group of people who make these decisions, and I think they’ve made up their minds.’’

Holtzclaw was the quarterback on Valdosta’s 1984 national championship team. Though concerned about the team’s play, Holtzclaw said he would support Tomberlin’s return and seemed annoyed by a certain faction of fans.

“They’ve forgotten what this is all about -- the kids,’’ he said.

Waller, a former booster club president, has missed five Valdosta games in 60 years. He sat along the 50-yard line.

Waller was the best friend of former Valdosta coach Nick Hyder, whose seven state titles from 1974 to 1995 are a burden to any successor. Waller said he visited Hyder’s grave this week and spoke to his late friend about Valdosta’s troubles.

‘’I don’t have any doubt that Coach Hyder would support him,’’ Waller said. “He’d see in Coach Tomberlin a lot of the same character, loving the kids, working with the grades that he had.’’

Tomberlin admits he has been wounded.

“I was humiliated and embarrassed,’’ Tomberlin said. ‘’It’s tough to be told you’re not good enough. It’s hurtful. After a while, with my faith and the encouragement of players, my wife and coaches, you get through some of that.”

In his defense, Tomberlin points out that he’s 21-12 since a 1-9 first season that included several close losses. Valdosta’s enrollment is among the smallest in Class AAAAA, enough to qualify it for AAAA.

When he was hired, Tomberlin was challenged to improve participation and academic achievement. He has almost doubled the number of players in the program (101 dressed out Friday night). He says he has decreased the number of students needing to go to summer school to one from 22 the summer he arrived.

And Tomberlin isn’t giving up yet.

‘’I’ve got some support out there, some that want me reinstated,’’ Tomberlin said. “I think that’s a possibility. I would hate to think that hinges on how we [did] against Newnan. I still feel like this job is my destiny, my Christian calling.”

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