Pack gets new coach

Published 4:20 pm Tuesday, December 6, 2005

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County looked about 65 miles south for its next head football coach when the Board of Education on Tuesday approved the hiring of Tim Cokely, who for the last 10 seasons was the head coach at North Florida Christian High School in Tallahassee, Fla.

Cokely, 41, won five state championships and compiled a 107-24 record over the last decade. He also was an assistant coach for six seasons at Jacksonville University Christian, where four of the teams he was associated with won state championships under head coach Robby Pruitt.

Colquitt County Schools Superintendent Leonard McCoy said he “couldn’t be more excited or more optimistic” when he recommended Cokley to the board at a special called meeting on Tuesday.

McCoy said he was impressed with Cokely’s “enthusiasm, excitement, background and morals.”

“He’s a man of proven experience and contacts and of unimpeachable moral and ethical character,” McCoy said of Cokely. “He’s a class act.”

The community will get a chance to meet Cokely at a get-together scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Willie Withers Auditorium. Refreshments and a chance to meet personally with Cokely will follow in the high school cafeteria.

Cokely will succeed Mike Singletary, who was asked to resign in November after posting a 32-22 record over the last five seasons.

Unlike Singletary, Cokely will not also serve as the school’s athletic director. He will teach social studies and be the director of football operations.

McCoy said those duties will include overseeing the middle school program and he will report directly to Colquitt County High Principal Bob Jones.

Before approving Cokely, the board approved a recommendation by McCoy to do away with one of the two assistant athletic director positions and the position of middle school athletic director.

A new athletic director has not been named.

Cokely will make $85,000, which includes a higher base salary than Singletary because Cokely has a master’s degree. McCoy said the salary also includes a supplement that is $1,239 more than what was paid to Singletary.

And because of the reorganization of the athletic department, the net effect of his salary is $2,739 more than what was paid out in the current year, McCoy said.

Despite the success he has had in Tallahassee, Cokely said he considers Georgia “the zenith of high school football” and the chance to coach at this level was one he could not pass up.

“It’s the right time,” he said. “It’s an honor, a true honor, to be going to a school that has such a football-rich tradition.”

Cokely said his philosophy is to build students first, then athletes. And he said the trust the community has shown in him “is not taken lightly by me or my family.

“We hope to put roots down in this community.”

And when asked what it will take to be successful at this level, he answered, “Hard work and dedication will take you a long way.”

North Florida Christian president Randy Ray said that “Tim is a man who has everything we are looking for in a coach in any sport. His commitment to faith and family put him in the right position to build a winning program in the atmosphere of NFC.

“He is a man of ability and integrity. Tim is one of my dearest friends and I will miss him and his family. He personifies what we are about in our approach to high school sports. We wish him nothing but the best in his new position.”

Timothy Brent Cokely and his wife Susan, married since 1988, have three school-age children. He has a master’s degree in education with social studies certification.

He received a bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, Calif., which he attended on a baseball scholarship. He received his master’s in education from Hope International University in Fullerton, Calif.

Before being named head coach of the Eagles, he was an assistant on teams that went 58-10 and won state championships in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994 in Jacksonville.

During his tenure in Tallahassee, his teams won state championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. He boasts a playoff record of 34-5 and holds a Florida High School Athletic Association state record of 21 consecutive playoff victories. His teams won district championships in 1995-2002 and in 2004.

Cokely has coached 20 players who have signed Division I scholarships. On his first team was future Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon. Four of his players are currently on the Florida State University roster, including starting linebacker Ernie Sims.

Cokely has close ties with Florida State University, where he is the only high school coach to work at the school’s summer camps.

He also is familiar with former Florida State assistant and current University of Georgia coach Mark Richt.

“Hopefully, we can model our program after his, a character-driven program,” Cokely said of Richt.

McCoy said he was grateful for the 10-person committee that conducted the interviews leading to the selection of Cokely. Those on the committee were Bobby Cobb and Dale Williams representing the community at large; outgoing Packer Booster Club president Rusty Clary and incoming president Ricky Hartley; high school assistant principals Kevin Giddens, Darrell Funderburk, Gerald Burke and Ben Wiggins; Jones and McCoy.

“It worked extremely well,” McCoy said. “It was among the most exhaustive searches I’ve been involved in.”

After the school board meeting, Cokely returned to Tallahassee to meet with his team.

“This is the hardest thing a coach can do,” Cokely said. “I’ve been at North Florida Christian for 10 years. And I love my players.

“But I can’t wait to get back here and dig in.”