Legendary Georgia high school football coach T. McFerrin sadly passed away earlier today after complications due to Alzheimer’s and dementia. McFerrin was a head coach in Georgia for over 30 years, and also coached in Tennessee for four years.
He began his journey as a head coach at Lithonia (1968-70), where he went 28-4 and brought the school its first region championship.
He left the school for Forest Park in 1971 where he spent one season and went 9-2 with a semifinals appearance.
After a four year-stint in Tennessee, McFerrin returned to Georgia in 1976 at Peachtree High School. He coached the school for seven years and won four region championships (1976, 1980-82). This included a three-peat of region championships, and in those years the team had two semifinals appearances and one state championship berth. While at Peachtree, McFerrin mentored fellow long-time Georgia high school football coach Dave Hunter, who took over the helm at Peachtree in 1983 after McFerrin’s departure.
“We were very close,” said Hunter. “T. McFerrin was an extremely organized and very detailed coach. He was an outstanding coach that loved each of his players. He’s a legend.”
McFerrin had another one year coaching stint at Southeast Whitfield in 1984, going 7-3 on the season.
He went to Tucker two years later and took a 4-7 team from his first season there to a 12-1 team his fourth and last season there. He also won a region championship in his last season (which was the school’s first in 21 years).
In 1990, he went to Elbert County. In seven years with Elbert County, he took the team to the playoffs every single season and won two region championships (1993, 1996). In 1995, McFerrin finally won his first state championship, leading Elbert County to a 14-1 record. Since he left in 1996, the school has not made it past the quarterfinals.
In 1998, he took over the South Gwinnett football program. He spent seven seasons with the Comets and took a team that went 0-10 the year before his arrival, to having a .500 record or above six out of the seven years he was there. Yet again, McFerrin won a region championship with South Gwinnett in 2003.
After four years off of being a head coach, McFerrin returned to coaching at Jefferson in 2009. He took the Dragons to new heights and won two region titles and one state championship in his last season.
After 30 plus years as a head coach, McFerrin decided to go out on top and retire after winning the state championship with Jefferson in 2012.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
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