Mell Wier coached boys and girls cross country and boys tennis during a tenure at Colquitt County High School that began in 1997.

MOULTRIE — Not long after Mell Wier was named Colquitt County’s cross country coach in August 1997, he took his teams to Albany to compete in a meet at Darton College.

As the Colquitt County runners came out of a wooded area just before crossing the finish line, they were greeted by a good number of appreciative Packer fans.

“For that many parents to be there in Albany on a Thursday afternoon … that’s when I knew I had made the right decision,” Wier remembered. “I said, ‘This is where I want to be.’ I found out where Packers go, the fans turn out.”

And he has been a fixture at Colquitt County since then, working with young runners in the fall and, eight years ago, also coaching the boys tennis team.

Later this month, he will retire from coaching, but will not leave Colquitt County.

Wier will take a position with the Moultrie-Colquitt County Recreation Authority, a position held until earlier this summer by Kevin Giddens.

The position became available when Giddens, a former Packers football coach, athletic director, assistant principal and Georgia High School Association associate director, passed away on June 19.

“Congratulations to Coach Wier for his retirement,” Colquitt County Athletic Director Cleve Edwards said. “He has been an outstanding coach for Packer athletics for quite some time.

“We will miss his leadership in our athletic department.”

Before coming to Moultrie, Wier had been a cross country graduate assistant at Georgia Southern.

But he also had coached at the high school level at Oconee County under Robert Aultman, a Moultrie native who started the cross country program at Colquitt County in the 1980s.

He also had begun a cross country program at Toombs County and had been the head coach at Oconee County.

The Colquitt County program had been dormant for a year before Wier arrived and he had just six boys and three girls on the team his first season.

But as the program evolved, the Packers and Lady Packers won several region titles over the years and represented south Georgia at the annual state cross country meet in Carrollton.

“I’ve mostly been interested in getting the kids to perform,” he said.

Eric McCranie, who has coached the middle school teams for several years, is coaching the varsity cross country runners this season.

In 2017, Wier was named the boys tennis coach.

His 2022 team won the Region 1-7A championship and the 2021 team was the region runner-up and advanced to the state’s Sweet 16.

Although the 2024 team finished fourth in the region tournament and was eliminated in the first round at state, it had just two seniors.

With the lineup expected to be held primarily by veteran juniors next spring, Wier said the decision to leave the program was a difficult one.

“They have a chance to be real good,” Wier said of the 2025 Packers tennis team. “We were real close last year. The program’s in good shape.”

Wier said that at the end of the last school year, he had no intentions of retiring.

“But the opportunity (with the rec authority) came at the right time,” he said.

He said he has been impressed with the way recreation director Maggie Davidson and longtime athletics coordinator James Kling operate the department.

“It’s an exciting time,” he said. “And they have a plan for building for the future.”

Wier said he hopes to be able to begin offering tennis lessons for the authority.

And as for filling the shoes of one of the most respected athletics/recreation administrators in the state, Wier said Giddens left his affairs in order.

“He was so organized,” Wier said. “I just have to plug in some things.”

And while he will be spending most of his time away from Colquitt County sports, Wier still will have more than just a casual interest.

His daughter Jaelyn plays on Colquitt County’s varsity flag football team and on the girls varsity tennis team.