GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Tony Lotti, West Hall
1. What is the most memorable game you've been a part of as a player or coach? "I would have to say there are two for me. Last year when we won the region title at West Hall, it was the first one in the school's 27-year history. Seeing how excited and happy our kids, community and alumni were on that night will always be a special memory for me. [West Hall beat Lumpkin County 35-0 in the final week of the regular season.] The other was in 2002, when I was an assistant at Union Grove. We won Union Grove's first region title in football and the first for any school in the county at that time. I still hear from former players on that team and we all seem to remember that night as if it happened yesterday." [Union Grove clinched that Region 5-AA title with a 17-14 victory over Grady in the final week of the regular season.]
2. Which high school coach would you want your son to play for, and why? "My son is actually a senior punter on our football team this season at West Hall. I would have loved for him to have been coached by Mike McDonald [current head coach at Newnan.] Mike and I grew up in the same city back in the day and played for Bud Theodocian at Morrow High School. Mike and I were also college teammates, and he was my personal protector on the punt team in college. We then coached together at Union Grove for several years. I just knew my son was going to get to play for Mike. I took the West Hall job as my son was entering high school as a freshman, so it just didn't happen. Mike has known my son since he was born. If I hadn't taken the West Hall job, I was going to coach at Newnan just so my son could learn from Mike. They don't come any better than Mike McDonald, and anyone who knows him will tell you the same thing."
3. What is your favorite saying/motto? "My motto is pretty simple - Do Right ... Right Follows! The hardest thing you will ever do in life is the right thing, but when you do, more often than not, the right thing will happen for you. What you send out comes back to you. You reap what you sow. I may not have got it right all the time, but when I did wrong - it came back hard and painful. When right - it returned greater than I could have imagined."
4. Which GHSA policy or high school football rule would you most like to see changed? "I would like to see the semifinal playoff games back in the Georgia Dome and state championships back on campus."
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