Today’s interviewee is Jefferson coach Gene Cathcart, whose No. 2-ranked team in Class 4A is playing at No. 1 Rabun County of 2A on Friday. Cathcart became Jefferson’s coach in 2017. He’s 29-8 at Jefferson and 139-47 for his career. Cathcart won more than 100 games and a 2012 state championship at Greenwood High in his native South Carolina.
Gene Cathcart, Jefferson head coach
1. The Rabun County game wasn’t on the original schedule. How did it come about? “We originally had tried to work out a game with Rabun and Coach [Jaybo] Shaw, but it didn’t work out, so we were fortunate when all the schedule changes occurred that we were able to nail down a game that was close geographically, was against a top-caliber, well-coached and well-respected opponent and fit the dates we both had available – which we were both then scrambling to fill. Obviously, both programs have a great deal of tradition, have played before and have history, and both are communities where football is important and both teams are exceptionally well-supported. I know both teams and both fan bases are excited, and it should be a great atmosphere, but the reality is win, lose or draw, both teams are built to have outstanding years and hopefully make deep playoff runs. One thing both teams know from being in these types of programs is that the biggest of games are always the next one, and the reason you play at programs like Jefferson and Rabun is the opportunity to play in marquee games that matter under the bright lights. Players in both programs must embrace that mindset.”
2. Rabun County has a five-star quarterback, Gunner Stockton, and so do you, Malaki Starks, though yours is recruited as a defensive back or running back. What would you want fans to know about Starks? “Malaki Starks is every bit as great a leader and young man as he is a football player. He is genuine and dependable and an outstanding teammate. As impressive as his highlight reel plays are - and he usually makes many - last week in his first start at quarterback he read and distributed the football very well, like a seasoned veteran. He has the ability to make something happen on every play, and we make sure the ball is in his hands every play at quarterback. He is also one of the best DBs and return men around, but it is the intangibles that really differentiates him. We are fortunate to be blessed with many really good players who are also great leaders and young men, and when that is the culture of the personality of your team, good things should happen.”
3. How would you contrast/compare Georgia football and South Carolina football? "Most years I would say the best of the best from each state are comparable, and that appears to have been proven over the years with maybe a percentage of the top-tier teams in Georgia winning a bit more often. Where the gap widens is the number of quality teams in Georgia in all classifications, as there are just more places in Georgia that seem to understand the benefits of football, high school sports and all extracurricular activities. It’s a compliment to a place in South Carolina when they are referred to as being “like Georgia” in their approach. ... The facilities gap between the states is pretty wide, as several already underfunded and financially strapped areas in South Carolina may try to support several schools, all with facilities that are not what those players, coaches, programs and communities deserve."
4. You’ve talked about your childhood publicly a few times. Can you tell us what high school football meant to you as a player and a kid growing up, and how it shaped your life, or made you pursue coaching as a career? “Sure. I was raised by some really good folks, but they struggled and eventually lost a battle with alcoholism. My teachers and coaches always took a special interest in me and made a significant difference in my life. They made me feel like family and believed in me maybe when I didn’t know how to believe in myself. All the many life lessons that this, the greatest of team games teaches, I benefited from. My coaches were with me through good and bad, and I pray I am some fraction of the coach to our players that they were for me. I have made more mistakes in life than one man should be allowed, and I wish I was as calm and poised as my role models were on the sideline, but I have never doubted for a second that this is my calling and what I am supposed to be doing, and despite sometimes focusing too much on the winning and losing, and all that comes with coaching, I sure hope that I never get distracted from my ‘why.’ I still battle most of what ACOA’s fight every day, but to be vigilant and stand watch for those young men that need me and give back is one the great privileges of my life. I have been blessed to see the difference coaches and athletics can make from being on both sides of the whistle and would be remiss if I didn’t take every opportunity to thank all coaches reading this for everything you do for the lost ‘Genes’ you coach and edify in your program and community. You may never even fully fathom your impact on our lives. I know that is a long-winded answer, but I spent most of my life in shame and shrouded secrecy, so if you are a player reading this and live in a dysfunctional home, I can only tell you to persevere, chip away at it, and there will be better days on your horizon. While I am a flawed, hard-headed man still working on understanding this myself, the great Picasso once said it best, ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ... It takes a very long time to become young again.’”
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