This week, our Four Questions feature are being answered by some of Georgia's best-known retired coaches. We continue with Jimmy Dorsey, who fashioned a 236-79-1 record in 27 seasons as a head coach, mostly at McEachern, where he won 12 region championships at a school that had never won a playoff game until his arrival in 1984. Dorsey retired as a head coach in 2008 and has remained as McEachern's athletics director.
Jimmy Dorsey
1. What is the most memorable game you've been a part of as a player or coach?"Without a doubt it would be our quarterfinal game vs. Northside-Warner Robins in 1998. We were both undefeated and ranked 1 and 2 in the state. Northside jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half but we came back to win 24-21 late in the fourth quarter. It still to date is the largest crowd in Cantrell Stadium, estimated at well over 13,000."
2. Which high school coach would you want your son to play for, and why? "If I had a young son, I would want him to play for Jeff Herron! Knowing Jeff over all these years, I've seen what he has accomplished and how he has gone about doing his job, always setting great examples for his players, demanding their best but with great compassion. Coaches with his talents do not come along very often, and I am fortunate to have coached with him for many years and more importantly shared his friendship since the first day we met long ago." [Herron, now head coach at Grayson, coached with Dorsey at McEachern until taking his first head-coaching job at Walton in 1989.]
3. What is your pet peeve as a coach?"My pet peeve was always and continues to be expectations of being on time and attendance. As a coach, I felt instilling these principals into our players was one of the greatest teaching opportunities we could pass along to our players that would help them succeed later in life. To me, these two principals are the foundation of success."
4. Which GHSA policy or high school football rule would you most like to see changed? "Not sure I would ever be saying this, but I think the time has come for the GHSA to consider eliminating the rules that prevent high school coaches from coaching their athletes out of season. This rule I feel is the root of the recruiting problems we now face as these kids are forced out of season to seek out groups not under the guidance of our schools to improve their skills. Many times these so-called experts are the ones encouraging these kids to transfer to other programs. I also feel we have high school coaches who have aligned themselves up with these out-of-season people behind the scenes to funnel kids to their programs."
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