Chris Whitaker
AMERICUS — Americus-Sumter’s search for a head football coach and athletics director has taken a step closer as finalists have been named.
Included on the list is current Panthers offensive coordinator Darren Alford.
“I think the (interview) panel did a thorough job going through and looking at various things,” said assistant superintendent Dr. Valerie Roberts. “I think they did a very good job. They kept the continued focus on children and what’s best for children. They looked at the candidates fairly and even pulled up records of some folks — winning records and where they brought their teams from, and they talked to coaches that have worked with them. I'm pleased with the process, and it will yield what it will yield.”
Alford has been involved in the Sumter school system since 1992. He spent 1992-2005 at Staley Middle where he was the athletics director for nine years and head football coach for four years.
Alford was the assistant offensive coordinator for Americus High and a position coach (running backs, defensive ends) from 2002-04. He was also the head JV coach and offensive coordinator for four seasons (1999-2002).
Alford was the ninth grade head football coach at the North Campus in 2004 and has been with the varsity football team since 2005. He is the team’s offensive coordinator, running backs coach and strength and conditioning coordinator.
He has also been a head coach on the track level, leading Americus High to the AA state championship in 2003.
He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Georgia Southwestern in health and physical education.
Charles Truitt is another familiar face having worked in both the county and city school systems. He was the head coach for Sumter County in the 2002-03 seasons in which the Rams were 9-11. Truitt then went to Monroe in Albany, where he has a 35-31 record in six seasons.
He received his bachelor’s, master’s and specialist degrees at Georgia Southwestern in health and physical education.
Deondri Clark has served as the head coach at Shaw University (29-13) and Fort Valley State (19-14) and is currently an assistant professor of physical education at Fort Valley State.
He has also served as the an interim athletics director at Fort Valley State.
Clark helped launch the Shaw football program into Division II in 2002-03 as the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator before taking over the next year as head coach. He received Coach of the Year honors in 2004 after winning the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship.
Clark was the defensive line coach at Benedict College in 2001-02 and was a graduate assistant at Central Michigan and Michigan State prior to that.
He was a defensive lineman in college for Bobby Bowden at Florida State from 1987-1992
Clark received his bachelor’s for sociology from Florida State and master’s for sports administration from Central Michigan.
Michael Pollock is familiar with high school football in southwest Georgia, having been a part of staffs at Mitchell-Baker, Thomasville, Pelham, Cook and most recently Valdosta where he is assistant athletic director, assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
Pollack has two years of head-coaching experience where he was 19-6 at Cook in 2001-02. He led the Hornets to the Georgia Dome in his first season before falling in the semifinals and finished 13-1. He was the school’s athletics director as well.
Pollack has also served as a defensive and offensive coordinator. When he wasn’t in southwest Georgia, Pollack was at Swainsboro (1998), Washington County (1999-2000) and Appling County (2003-05).
Pollack received his bachelor’s in secondary mathematics education from Georgia and his master’s in educational administration from the University of Scranton.
Rob Armstrong has the most experience as a head coach and athletics director, having held both positions at five of the seven schools he’s been employed by, totaling 11 years.
All of his experience has been in Florida with the exception of his stop at Lowndes, where he spent time as the school’s offensive line coach, special teams coordinator, offensive head coach and assistant head coach from 2002-2007.
In 2007, Pollack was selected as one of the top ten assistant coach in the nation by American Football Monthly Magazine.
He received his bachelor’s in education in 1992 and his master’s in 2005 from Troy. Pollack was a defensive lineman for the Trojans from 1988-1990.
Roberts said the goal is to give the interview panel’s first and second choices on Feb. 9 to the superintendent and then present its top choice at the Feb. 11 board meeting for approval.
