Coaches Spotlight- Tim Cummings
1- Congrats on having a great regular season. When did you first become interested in Track and Field?
My first interest in coaching track came when I realized my small children loved to run, I was coaching football and basketball at the time but thought: I've got to find a better way to be more involved in their lives, coaching track and cross became that doorway, that was a few years ago, now two of my daughters are coaches.
2- Did you compete in HS or College as an athlete? or another Sport?
I played every sport in high school, whatever was in season, had some offers from some small schools in basketball, but I wanted to get out of college in 3 years so I took extra class loads and went in the summer, studied coaching and got through in 3 years, I was teaching school in Atlanta at the age of 20.
3- Describe your journey from novice Coach to your Head Coaching position now
I was a head basketball coach my second year in Atlanta, when I came back home to Athens I assisted our track coach who was older, I learned a lot from him (Jim Davis) and when he retired I took over the program my 4th year here. We had a Cross Country Coach who our kids loved named Kent Kramer, he started the cross program at ACS; he was one of my best friends on the planet, but he passed away in a car accident coming to practice in October my 5th year here and I took over the XC program at that point and have had that team ever since, I think about him almost everyday still, I think looking down from Heaven he must be proud of what's going on here.
4- How important is it to have the full support of the AD and resources available to succeed?
It's a 3 legged stool, Administration; parents and kids, if one leg is not there, it's hard to make it work. But more important is having a good staff, which we are blessed to have. Our hurdles coach, Mike Fowler is a solid coach and a great technician; our jumps coach, Dennis Whitfield, coached on the ark and knows kids very well; our distance coach, Sean Zuniga, is a lay coach who is very skilled and our throws coach, Seth Brownlee, threw in college and is very helpful, I coach the sprinters and relays and have kids that are good enough to overcome their coaching. Cook Holiday helps our vaulters and he is a legend. Our staff has been around together for a long time
5- What are some of the challenges in building a successful program?
The challenge for us is the size of the school , almost all of our athletes do multiple sports, they have to if your going to be successful, you have 16 events to cover, and it's always a challenge to fill each spot with capable kids. We have baseball; track; soccer; golf and tennis going on in the spring and we have 230 high school students, go figure. We have really been blessed this year however: our baseball team is 21-3; our soccer team is in the playoffs and our track teams have been successful again. I think another challenge is the single A Private class, per capita I think it's the toughest classification.
6- Do you have a supportive Track Booster Club?
Not really, but our parents trust and support us and that's enough.
7- Has Middle Track the past few years in your feeder schools helped contribute to the HS program's success?
Our middle school program is one of the keys to our success; we have a great program, our middle school coach, Cayla Redish and her staff, have them ready to compete on a high level when they get to us. They know how to work and get after it when they arrive, it's very important and one of the big reasons for our success.
8- What are your program's Goals every season? County/Region title, State Championship?
We always talk about the "Triple Crown" from the get go: City; Region; State. For the last several years they have been attainable goals; we've been very fortunate and are trying to win our 4th consecutive boys state championship and the 4th in 5 years for the girls.
9- Assess your team's Region meet and the challenges faced at Sectionals to advance.
We just won our boys region for the 11th straight year and our girls just won their 8th consecutive title; the Lord has sent us many great kids and that's the reason for our success. We the coaches work them hard, but the main thing we want to do is make sure we don't mess them up. Our Sectional is extremely tough as is our state meet, I think we are in the hunt and that's always fun.
10- What advancements should the GHSA make to bring our Sport on par with the 'other' 47 states ?
It's hard to have the meets separate, I teach AP Government and History, and I have to miss 4 days instead of 2 at a tough time of the year academically. Albany is a long, hard trip every year and expensive, but we've had some good times down there. .
Bonus- What has been among your favorite accomplishments for the school you now coach at?
I've enjoyed the kids, it has been the the most rewarding part of it for the last 34 years, and I've been very fortunate to have been able to coach my own kids too. My 4th child is a senior this year, Levi, and it's been quite a trip; I've been taking him to pole vault competitions since he was a middle schooler, he's going on to play college football next year and I'm going to miss him, but I'm looking forward to what the Lord has for next year's teams, all this beats working for a living.