Treutlen community ‘wanting to talk football’ now that it has a winner
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Treutlen coach Alan Shurling, whose 8-2 team can win its first state playoff game in history, and first postseason game of any kind since 1991, with a road victory over Wheeler County in Class A on Friday night. This is Shurling’s third season as Treutlen’s coach. In 2025, Treutlen had its first winning season since 2016 and first playoff appearance since 2009. Treutlen’s game at Wheeler County is a rematch of their Oct. 8 Region 4-A game that Wheeler County won 28-16. Wheeler County won the region, and Wheeler County was runner-up. Wheeler County is a 4-point favorite in this game, according to the Maxwell Ratings.
1. What’s been the reaction to some of the milestones your team has accomplished, and what has the community/school done that lets you know they are enthused?
“There is excitement in the school. Last year was exciting too, but we learned we still have to take it a day at a time and prepare. (Treutlen lost its final three games after a 6-2 start in 2025.) But the administration has been great. They’ve made this week so far feel special for the kids. Every day the principal comes to me and asks, ‘What do I need to get you today to help make you successful?’ He’s making sure the little things are taken care of.
“They say in a small town that everybody knows who the football coach is. Now I can’t go out without being stopped by somebody wanting to talk about football. That’s a great thing about coaching football in a small community.”
2. What needed to be done at Treutlen to get it from where you found it to where it is now?
“A lot of it had to do with building trust. When I got here, I was the third head coach in three seasons. The kids had to trust that the staff and the administration were going to do the right thing. Improving year by year helped that. The kids now have faith we’re going to be here next year.
“The community has supported me every since our first season. The booster club has done well raising money because of the success. We’re one of the smallest schools in Georgia, but with the help of others, I brought what I learned at Upson-Lee, South Effingham and Cedartown to here and made it feel like a big-time program — anything we want, from T-shirts to shoes to being fed multiple times during the week to all kind of medical care, things that normally at a small school isn’t done. That’s helped tremendously.”
Note: Shurling’s parents are from Treutlen County and live there. Shurling and his wife, Esther, have children ages 9, 6 and 3. “Moving around and having a family got difficult on my wife, and she wanted to be closer and have support,” Shurling said of taking the Treutlen job. “During football season, a coach is not around his family as much, so being here gives us more family time.”
3. What type of offense do you run? I see you’re are a super-heavy run team. What’s the scheme and the philosophy?
“We’re wing-T. We try to control the tempo of the game. We can speed it up or slow it down how we need to do it. I learned that from coach Jamie Abrams, who is head coach at Bowdon. He gave me my first job at Lamar County, and I was offensive coordinator for him at Cedartown. I learned how to adjust and can take the personnel I’ve got each year and make it fit what I need.”
Note: Treutlen has passed for only 568 yards with a sophomore quarterback, Major Morton, while averaging 293.8 rushing yards per game. Za’kian Tobler has rushed for 1,508 yards and 24 touchdowns.
4. You’ve coached at many places around the state. What coach influenced you the most in terms of how you coach now?
“Really, it’s two coaches. Jamie Abrams, he really taught me the philosophy of football and the X’s and O’s. Then at Upson-Lee, I worked two years with Tommy Parks, and he taught me how to relate to kids and how to coach them. It’s one thing to know X’s and O’s, but to teach the kids what to do is totally different. Tommy Parks was really good at that.”