UPDATE: GMC Prep hires new football coach

Published 5:01 pm Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Coach’s son and a coach himself, Bobby Rhoades has, by his own account, “been everywhere.”

Throughout his over 25 years in the profession, Rhoades either served on or led coaching staffs in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Alabama, and Georgia. His first job in the Peach State took him to Pepperell High School in northwest Georgia, which is where he spent the last six years as offensive coordinator.

Rhoades is jumping back into a head role as this week he was named new leader of the Georgia Military College Preparatory School football program. GMC Prep made Rhoades available for interviews Wednesday morning. He spoke simultaneously with The Union-Recorder and Scott MacLeod, radio play-by-play voice of Lake Country 102.3’s “Game of the Week.”

Rhoades’ coaching career began in the late ‘90s as a volunteer assistant at Alabama’s Pelham High School before one year spent as a graduate assistant at Delta State University in Mississippi. He then moved to Tusculum University in Tennessee to become wide receivers coach and director of football operations. Rhoades continued down the college path in 2005 when he took the wide receivers coaching job at the University of Central Arkansas for three years. After one season at Illinois State University, he became head coach at Grissom High School in Huntsville, Al. Rhoades returned to Pelham to serve as offensive coordinator for four years then accepted his second head coaching role at Kate Duncan Smith D.A.R. High School in Grant, Al. in 2014. While there, his 2015 team broke the school record for wins, advanced to the state playoffs, and achieved the program’s first top-10 ranking in school history. He spent three years at D.A.R. before moving to Georgia.

Rhoades comes to Milledgeville from the slightly-larger Pepperell. The Dragons during his time there were classified in either 2A or the newly-created “high-A” division. Classification assignments are based on high school enrollment, and GMC Prep plays in the lowest class in the state. Rhoades has no qualms with being at a small school.

“I think any time that you are at a smaller school there’s a lot of positives to that,” he said. “Your kids are multi-sport athletes. You have a closer sense of community. It’s easier to develop relationships… I was more concerned about finding a place that supported their students and coaches. Nobody does that, from what I’ve seen, better than GMC.”

Rhoades replaces Lee Coleman, who after four years leading GMC Prep football took the head coaching gig at Lakeview Academy in his hometown of Gainesville, Ga. Coleman during his tenure led GMC to a 23-20 record, including an undefeated 2021 regular season and region championship. It was the best season Bulldog football had seen in 60 years. Despite the program’s lacking history when it came to making the postseason, the ‘Dogs earned state playoff berths each of Coleman’s last three years at the helm.

Part of the reason why Coleman was able to lead GMC Prep football to new heights was his ability to increase roster size every year. Rhoades knows he’ll have to keep that trend up.

“I think anytime in a school this size you’ve got to really do a good job getting every kid out that can help your program,” he said. “You’ve got to talk to basketball, baseball, and soccer players to help them understand the benefits that football can do for them. I don’t want to talk to them about what they can do for the football program, what can football do for you? When you’re at a small school, there’s strength in numbers. That’s going to be one of the first things that I work on.”

GMC Prep Athletic Director Andrew Grodecki shared that the school’s recent coaching search featured an “extremely talented pool of candidates” that was whittled down to seven then three before Rhoades was offered the job.

“Coach Rhoades just stuck out,” Grodecki said. “His knowledge in weight training, his background in coaching at the college and high school level, and his ability to communicate are really big things that we were looking for for our football program.”

In addition to head-coaching duties, Rhoades will also serve as the Prep School’s weight room instructor. At previous jobs he’s doubled as both a boys and girls track coach. Pepperell’s girls won back-to-back region championships the last two springs under Rhoades. In the weight room, his focus will be on strength and speed development.

“Football players need to be racehorses,” said Rhoades. “They need to be explosive and they need to be fast. That goes for every position on the field. We’re going to implement a program here that’s going to focus on speed and explosion and developing racehorses where kids maximize their speed and athletic potential.”

On the field, Rhoades is prepared to call offensive plays himself if need be, but he’s going to see how his staff rounds out before that decision is made. The offense will be molded around the players, not vice versa. He pointed to his time as head coach at D.A.R. High School as an example. Rhoades’ second year there the offense was built around an athletic running quarterback and tailback. The next year his team was throwing the football all over field.

“It’s an offense that’s going to take advantage of the players that it has,” he said. “It’s not going to be cookie-cutter where I’ve got to fit kids into certain pieces. We’re going to morph around the people that we have.”

As far as talent, Rhoades will have to replace a multiyear starter at quarterback, but expected returners include All-Region players in RB/LB Jessie Washington III, DE Isaiah Womble, and WR/DB Johnathan Roach. Although Womble’s football future beyond high school is likely on the defensive side of the ball, he’s also shown flashes as a pass catcher.

Work towards the 2023 football season begins over the summer. Rhoades said he doesn’t want to take student-athletes away from their spring sports for spring football, and he believes everything he wants to accomplish can be done in the summer months.

The new GMC Prep head football coach and his wife Deb-E have three children. Payton, 21, is currently a wide receiver at Sacred Heart University (Connecticut). Their younger son Alex is 17 and recently signed to play wide receiver at Delta State, where both his father and grandfather coached. The Rhoades’ youngest is 15-year-old daughter Megan, an aspiring artist and member of the Pepperell High School color guard.

Coach Rhoades’ first day at GMC Prep is set for March 1.