What does Colquitt County High School’s athletic director do?

Published 3:00 pm Monday, July 17, 2023

MOULTRIE — Every athletic program needs an athletic director (AD), but what exactly is it that they do besides seeming to always be everywhere at once? Cleve Edwards, the AD for Colquitt County High School, sheds some light on just what exactly it is he focuses on through the year to help the athletic program be successful.

“Athletic administration has a lot that comes with it,” said Edwards. “We can go from putting out fires to overseeing a lot of things.”

As with every job, there is one aspect that requires more time than the others.

“I think the biggest thing that I could say responsibility wise is academic achievement for kids because it’s one of the things governed by GHSA,” said Edwards. “Each athlete either has to have a certain amount of credits from the previous year or total credits through their academic career. They also need to make sure their grades are above the minimum GPA requirement.”

This is a year-long project for Edwards.

“That’s one of the biggest things making sure kids are academically eligible,” said Edwards. “Next week (mid-July) I’ll start getting everything squared away. I’ll pull all the rosters and every kid on the Fall roster will get their records pulled to make sure they are academically inclined.”

Edwards does this multiple times throughout the year.

“Everything that I do for our fall sports I start doing at the end of September for all kids in winter sports,” said Edwards. “ I basically redo the process… and then close to the completion of winter sports I repeat it again for spring.”

Why is it so important to check grades throughout the year?

“The GHSA frowns very heavily on having kids participate who are not eligible,” said Edwards. “We would look at forfeiting games and that’s not where we want to be.”

In addition to maintaining the student’s academic eligibility, Edwards also does many other things behind the scenes including, creating the yearly athletics budget, organizes end-of-season banquets and transportation needs and scheduling a doctor to come to the school to complete yearly physicals for the athletes.

This only names a few.

“My whole summer consists of the upcoming fall semester,” said Edwards. “Making sure we have master schedules to hand out, people that are working gates, the Lion Club is good at the concessions and that there are officials lined up for all the ballgames.”

Once Edwards is done with his office work, there is plenty to do at the fields.

“Summertime for the facilities is a big thing,” said Edwards. “It’s a year-round process to make sure they are kept in working order. The last thing in the world we want is our kids or coaching coming to practice during the summer and showing up to a dirty field.”

As often as he can, Edwards personally helps care for the grounds.

“I try to get out there at least once a day,” said Edwards. “I don’t always get the chance to walk around, but I always drive down. I look for trash, make sure there are no holes that could break an ankle and make sure the sprinkler is working right so the grass doesn’t die. Things like that.”

In addition to all the paperwork and maintenance, Edwards also networks to maintain positive relationships.

“An AD is a connector between the community and the school,” said Edwards. “Things aren’t always going too well for every athlete.”

So, how does Edwards relate to those not so great situations?

“Honestly, I believe that a prereq to being an AD means being a head coach at some point,” said Edwards, who coached baseball, wrestling and football in his younger years. “As a head coach there is a lot of pressure with all the fans, parents and athletes. As an AD you take those same skills and use them to be a mediator. Not everyone is always going to leave happy, but the main goal is that the kids are successful and that’s what we stress the importance of.”

It’s not just with the members of Colquitt County that Edwards has cultivated a good rapport.

“It’s extremely important for an AD and principal to have a close working relationship,” said Edwards. “Mr. Chappuis is great to work with and allows me to run the athletic program how I see fit.”

Edwards doesn’t stop there.

“To start each school year I like to have an all coaches meeting,” said Edwards. “We spend a lot of time in that meeting making sure protocols are covered. We have a lot of policies we are required to follow by GHSA guidelines like what to do if there is lighting and what the heat index is. They are things everyone needs to know.”

After all these preparations, it’s finally time for a game, but that doesn’t mean Edwards can fully relax.

“My responsibility during a game is that I’m the administration on duty,” said Edwards. “Anything that happens an official is going to come to me.”

This includes any issue that arouses.

“Sometimes a fan or coach gets out of hand and the official asks me to handle it,” said Edwards. “Sometimes people need to be escorted out. We never want that situation, but sometimes it has to happen. That’s why we never have a game without security.”

Edwards is about to be starting his ninth year as the AD for Colquitt County High School.

“I was an AD at Cook County for seven years before coming here,” said Edwards. “Before I climbed the ladder there … I began as a community coach while at college. It was the best thing in the world for my career.”

How so?

“I worked for what felt like 35 cents an hour, but it paid dividends in my career,” said Edwards. “I learned about the business and how to work hard. I worked under a hard nosed guy who coached me up and I appreciate everything that he did for me.”

After all these years, Edwards has just as much love for him today as he did on day one.

“I enjoy what I do. I really do,” said Edwards. “I like to watch the kids compete and be successful; and not just athletically, but academically as well. When kids are successful athletically that will transfer to the classroom, and athletics has opened so many doors for kids that maybe they wouldn’t have had otherwise … I enjoy that aspect of it.”