Coaches make off-season moves
Two Tiger coaches in Bulldog colors, THS gets new pair
By Charlie Anderson Contributing Writer

Lance Ingram

When the battle lines are drawn on Thursday, August 30, for the traditional rivalry game between Sweet Water and Thomasville, two coaches who wore the maroon and gray of Thomasville last year will be across the field in Sweet Water purple and gold this time out.

Pat Thompson who was teaching driver's education and had been on the coaching staff in Thomasville since back in the fall of 1997 when Stacy Luker first took the head Tiger position, made the decision over the course of the summer to leave his defensive coordinator job in Thomasville to take a similar position in Sweet Water this fall. The vacancy in the position at Sweet Water was created when Andro Williams who had been Sweet Water's top defensive man for several years left to accept the Head Coaching job at Linden High School. During his ten year tenure at Thomasville, Thompson had spent the majority of his time on the defensive side of the ball and had been elevated to the defensive coordinator spot when Jack Hankins took the head position at Thomasville following Luker's answering the call home to Sweet Water in the spring of 2002. Before coming to Thomasville, Thompson had spent one year at Northview High School in Florida.

Kevin Byrd

Another former Tiger man joining Thompson on the Sweet Water sideline this season will be Kevin Byrd, who is seizing the opportunity to move up in the coaching profession. Byrd who is a 1989 graduate of Thomasville High School, had worked several years in industry as an engineer before feeling the need to give up that life style and devote himself to teaching math and coaching. When opportunity presented itself three years ago he took a position at Thomasville teaching middle school math and coaching both football and baseball in the middle school program. As this past summer approached a vacancy occurred at Sweet Water High School for a math teacher and coach at the varsity level and opportunity came knocking for Byrd. In the end it was the chance to not only work in the varsity football program with receivers and defensive backs but to also become the head baseball coach that was the deciding factor for Byrd.

Pat Thompson

Although both men are happy with their decisions, making the final choice to leave was a hard one. They both have nothing but good to say about Thomasville and Thomasville High School and still consider all the people they worked with there to be among their best friends. For Thompson in boiled down to family. "It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make," Thompson said. "Basically it came down to family. We live over here in the area, go to church over here and have a lot of other family here. In a way it was somewhat like coming home."

For Byrd it was time to take the next step. "I just felt like this was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down," Byrd said. "When I made the choice to leave industry and go to work in education one of the driving forces was being able to coach. Here at Sweet Water the chance to coach football at the varsity level and be the head baseball coach was just too much to turn my back on."

The decision was much easier for the third man in the equation. Lance Ingram, a 1996 graduate of Thomasville High School, didn't have to think very long or hard about the chance to come back to teach and coach at his alma mater. It was something that had been on his wish list for the past couple of years and as the summer unfolded and things fell into place for a vacancy to occur, he was ready to don the maroon and gray again. Ingram who had been teaching health and physical education and coaching both football and baseball at Elberton High School in Elberton, Georgia for the past five years, will be in a teaching position at the Alternative School and will be working with both the football and baseball programs at Thomasville High School. Filling the slot vacated by Thompson on the football staff, his duties will primarily be on the defensive side of the ball as well but with the possibility of offering some assistance to the receiving corps on offense. As a wide receiver during his playing days at THS, Ingram set and still holds the record for the longest pass reception for a touchdown having been on the receiving end of a pass play that covered 98 yards for a touchdown against St. Paul's during his junior year.

PHOTO BY JOHNNY AUTERY Sweet Water players jump for a pass at a Sweet Water scrimmage Friday.

For Ingram there was a bonus in that his wife Cherish also joined the Thomasville family filling a special education teacher vacancy at the high school and taking over the varsity cheerleader sponsorship role. "Cherish and I are happy about the opportunity to be here in Thomasville and I am proud to be a Tiger again," Ingram said.

Thomasville also hired Thomas Papworth to assist with defensive line, and will be teaching social studies at TMS.

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