GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Todd Wheeler, Coosa
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "I would have to say that the most influential person in my coaching career is Lynn Hunnicutt [[Wheeler's high school coach at Peperell.] Lynn was one of those guys that brought out the best in you. He always challenged you to be on top of your game as a coach and dealing with players. He's one of the best at getting players and coaches to perform at their very best."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "Reggie Brown, who played at Carrollton back in the late 1990s. He was difficult to slow down as a wide receiver, much less to stop. Carrollton, and coach Ben Scott, would move him around to different positions, which made it next to impossible to get your best cover man on him."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "This is a hard one. The Carrollton teams of the late '90s were tough. But I would have to say that the 1993 Greene-Taliaferro team coached by Charles Winslette was the best team that I have had the opportunity to coach against. They only had 28 players, and those kids played for each other. That was one of the most unselfish teams that I have seen. One rumor about this team is that the kids all knew who needed a back number and who needed a lineman number. Before the game, the coaches would place the jerseys in the locker room and they just pick up a jersey and did not care what the number was that they got. They just wanted to play the game."
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 think that the GHSA is a model for managing athletics. One rule that I would like to see tweaked would be the quarters that a student can play. Special-teams plays should not count as a quarter played. These are usually kids that ether play JV or are front-line backups, and this rule makes it tough when you are trying to give a kid game reps at the JV level. At times it could determine if a team can play in an upcoming JV game or have to cancel."
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