The North Georgia sports world was shocked on Sunday night as the news broke that Lumpkin County High School Girls Basketball coach David Dowse turned in his resignation earlier in the day and would be stepping down as head coach immediately.
Dowse, who had just begun his fifth year at the helm for the Indians on Thursday, reportedly turned in his resignation on Sunday afternoon, with school officials releasing a statement from the coach.
“At 4:30 this afternoon, I officially resigned my position as head coach of the Lumpkin WBB program,” Dowse’s statement read. “The decision came after some soul searching and prayer and was 100 percent my decision. I was in no way shape or form influenced or coerced by anyone affiliated with the Lumpkin County School System.”
The decision comes as a complete surprise to many, coming off the heels of Lumpkin’s first ever appearance in the Final Four of the GHSA state basketball tournament with a team reloaded and poised to make a similar run. The Indians entered the season with the slogan “Play 32,” in part referring to the team’s goal of playing in the state championship game, which would be the 32nd on the team’s schedule.
“I’m sure that most will never understand how I could walk away from the #1 ranked team in GA…a young and talented group,” Dowse’s statement continued. “For me the answer lies in the fact that TEAM success is irrelevant and unrewarding if accomplished without the right core values. The things that I hold dear and those which, in my mind, make coaching team sports special have deteriorated to the point where I can no longer justify the time and effort and frustrations of ‘fighting the good fight.’ For me, the concept of
TEAM > me is simply nonnegotiable. When that message is met with resistance on multiple levels, effective leadership is no longer feasible. And so I’ve chosen to walk away.”
The statement was provided to The Nugget by LCHS principal Billy Kirk before it was posted in a release on the school system website.
Dowse leaves the team after leading it to a 2-0 start to the season, winning its first game in a three-day tournament on Saturday, 65-22 over Morgan County at Jefferson High School. The team is slated to play Buford High School in the second round of the tournament on Monday.
When contacted by The Nugget, Dowse confirmed the resignation and said that Kirk requested that all questions regarding the resignation be directed to him.
“I knew he was going to get bombarded because it’s a big deal because we’re the No. 1 team in the state,” Kirk said, So I wanted it to be a consistent message.”
Kirk confirmed that Dowse would remain at Lumpkin as a teacher.
“I wish Coach Dowse nothing but the best,” Kirk said. “...Coach Dowse has to do what’s best for him and his family.”
The announcement comes less than 24-hours from the team’s biggest test so far, and possibly all season long, when they face Buford, who was ranked No. 3 in Classification AAAAAA heading into the season.
“We’re not going to stop playing because we owe it to these girls,” Kirk said. “...For this week, I will be at the game tomorrow along with [Athletic Director] Coach [Steve] Horton and assistant coaches Megan Crane and KatyBeth Rentz.”
Kirk said that there would be no interim coach named as of yet, but that the plan is to name one by Monday, Nov. 29. Until then, he said Rentz, an assistant in her first year of coaching, would handle the basketball side of things.
Dowse is the second coach to resign from their position at LCHS in a calendar week as the resignation of head football coach Caleb Sorrells was announced last Monday, Nov. 15.
Lumpkin is set to tipoff against Buford at 3 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 22 at Jefferson High School in the Jackson EMC Tipoff Classic.