GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Gary Varner, Allatoona
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "Two that come to mind right off are coach Ray Manus, head coach forever at Roswell, and then when I was offensive coordinator at Roswell [for the 2006 state championship team], Tim McFarlin was the head coach at the time. The biggest influence they had was just how professional the organization was and how they treated the kids and their integrity."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "I've seen a lot of them. I'd say the one that jumps out when you see film was Rennie Curran of Brookwood. I only saw him once, but he just did everything. The speed at which he played high school football was very unusual. Most kids take plays off and don't play with the speed and passion that he did play after play. He made plays that high school kids don't make."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "Probably Burke County three years ago when they won the state championship. They beat us in the quarterfinals in a tremendous game at our place and went on to walk through opponents in the semifinals and finals. They were very good. They had speed and size, and they seemed to have that intangible team thing at the time. It seemed like a close group that came through."
4. If you were Gary Phillips, the new head of the GHSA, what would be the first rule that you would try to change? "I would tweak how they do the six classifications. I just think that in AAAAAA, when you have a school of 3,800 going against a school of 1,800, that's crazy. It's very difficult for a AAAAAA team at the lower end to have a fair chance. It's basically impossible."
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