This past week ended the Gene Mitchell era at Newton County High School when the veteran coach resigned his post.
Actually, he made his mind up during the season and told his team during the last week of the regular season. It wasn’t official until his resignation was accepted by the school board on Thursday night.
In my three years of covering Newton County and dealing with Mitchell, I’ve grown a lot of respect for the man.
This past winter, Mitchell was diagnosed with bone cancer and has been dealing with that for almost a year now. Many times I would text him a question and he would reply that he was at a chemotherapy session. But during it all, he has kept a positive attitude.
This past season was rough on Mitchell. The Cougars were young, really young. I would venture to say they were one of the youngest football teams in Class 4A and were without several players that could have helped them this season.
The Cougars struggled through a 1-10 season and Mitchell thought it was time to step down and concentrate on his health.
One of the things that I really admire about Mitchell is his devotion to God. We didn’t go through an interview where he didn’t mention something about God or his faith. He even organized a 7-on-7 football camp where he brought in Bro. Larry Reed to preach the gospel to a lot of high school kids. Those are the kind of things that win points with the big man up stairs.
I don’t know who the Cougars will get to lead the program, but there is plenty of work to be done. But here’s one thing I’ve learned about Newton County people, they don’t mind working.
I hate it ended the way it did for Mitchell at County, but after watching most of their films this season, they were overmatched in almost every game they played. I’ve been doing this long enough and coaching long enough to know that there are times when you just don’t have the “Jimmies and Joes” that the other guy does. There are times when the other team is just better and no amount of coaching can overcome that. That was really the case for the Cougars this season.
The good part for whoever takes the job is there is plenty of experienced players coming back.
I believe there will be plenty of interest in the job because Newton County is a good place to live and Newton County is a good school system. I’ve even had people call me and ask me about the job so I can just imagine what kind of phone calls Athletics Director Justin Chaney has fielded.
There is no doubt that Newton County will be a challenge to the next man. But as former coach Jeff Breland proved, you can win at Newton County. It can be done, it just takes the right coach.
But one thing is for certain, our prayers will be with Coach Mitchell as he goes through this grueling fight with cancer over the next couple of months. I would ask you to include him in your prayers as well. Because when it comes down to it, football is a game.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Newton County Appeal.
