Parrott adds AD to list of duties

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Rhett Parrott, already an assistant baseball coach and the head softball coach at Coahulla Creek, will also be the school's athletic director this year.
Rhett Parrott

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August 1, 2012

Parrott adds AD to list of duties

By Chris Whitfield chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Aug 01, 2012, 07:00 AM EDT

Today marks the start of high school softball practice for GHSA programs, and Coahulla Creek head coach Rhett Parrott has already had a busy summer both on and off the field.

But off-the-field duties have recently taken on a whole new meaning for the former professional baseball player.

Parrott, who is also an assistant baseball coach, has taken over as the school’s athletic director. He replaces Jay Ashlock, who served as Coahulla Creek’s AD during its inaugural school year this past year and remains at the school as an assistant principal.

“I am very excited about it,” said Parrott, who handled AD duties this past spring on an interim basis. “It will be nice to be involved with all of the different athletics. It has worked out well because I have experience playing sports and coaching sports at all levels, and my degree is business. A lot of the things that come up with the athletic director’s role are marketing and business and administration.”

Coahulla Creek principal Phillip Brown said Parrott is a perfect fit.

“I think I just went with the character of the guy,” Phillips said of the hiring. “He is a good man, plus his degree and his experience fit very nicely with what we are looking for. A lot of schools have used administrators in the role of athletic director, and you can’t free up an assistant principal to invest that time. It was a little easier to create time for Rhett.”

Parrott teaches sports marketing and management classes at Whitfield County’s newest school, but Brown said his class load has been reduced by one this fall to allow him more time for his new responsibilities guiding the school’s athletic program.

A graduate of Northwest Whitfield, Parrott played five seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and reached the Triple-A level before having his career ended by injury. He pitched collegiately at Georgia Tech, is a member of the Northwest Whitfield Athletic Hall of Fame and spent 2010 as an assistant coach at Duke University.

“His experience at all levels of play doesn’t hurt, and he is just such a good guy,” Brown said. “We will coach him through the next couple of years, but he does a fantastic job. We are looking forward to seeing our athletic program continue to develop and grow.”

Parrott has been most impressed with the community support and the enthusiasm of all of the athletes and boosters in the school’s first year.

“It is exciting,” he said. “We feel like we have a great coaching staff and the kids have been great and we have great facilities. The community has bought in quickly to it, and it has been a lot of fun. The support from the media has been great and that keeps the community informed.”

While the Colts have a full stable of sports, Brown said it is never too early to expand the program. Whether those sports compete at the club level or in the GHSA will depend on the sport.

“I am interested in club sports and other things that will get more students involved, but it is a little premature on those things,” Brown said. “We will gauge student interest. Our plate is pretty full for GHSA sports, but swimming is one we want to get into and it seems like a likely fit.”

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