Seven days into his position as Muscogee County School District’s Director of Athletics, Jeff Battles had just three words when asked how he liked his new job.
“I love it,” said Battles, 38, with sincere enthusiasm.
According to the former Hardaway High School Athletic Director and head football coach, the move to school district headquarters is the realization of a long-term plan.
“My second year of teaching I was made a middle school athletic director,” Battles said. “I liked it so much, my professional goal became to be in athletic administration. I love to work with sports, I love to work with kids, and I love to work in athletic administration.”
Battles was working at St. Anne-Pacelli School at the time and was part of the faculty and coaching staff there for eight years. During that time, he coached a variety of sports including golf, track, football, wrestling, and middle school basketball. He left the private Catholic school to take a teaching and coaching position at Hardaway, where he remained for eight more years.
At Hardaway, Battles taught history and physical education and coached both football and wrestling. He was named the Ledger-Enquirer’s All-Bi-City Football Coach of the Year in 2010 and the Region 1-AAAAA Athletics Director of the Year in 2014. Battles stepped down from his head football coach position after the 2015 football season, saying he felt Hardaway needed a new direction with the program. Not long after, the Hawks named Mike Woolrich as head football coach, and Battles remained the school’s athletic director until he accepted the administrative position with the district in February.
The position of director of athletics was vacant after Todd Stanfill, who came on in 2014, left the job to become principal at Harris County High School in January.
Battles is the fourth person to hold the job of overseeing the system-wide athletics department. It was established in ?? under the direction of Charlie Flowers, a former coach and athletic director within the district. He was succeeded by Gary Gibson, who left the position in 2013 to become Taylor County’s Superintendent of Education.
The responsibilities of the director of athletics for the county school system vary. Battles said a good portion of his everyday job is involved in sorting out the scheduling and logistics of 20 athletic programs (eight high schools and 12 middle schools) being matched with sports facilities, having athletic transportation needs identified and met, and working with financial personnel to help with funding issues.
While Battles oversees athletics for the district, he mainly has contact with the high school and middle school athletic directors who manage their athletic departments. Building principals are responsible for the hiring of athletic personnel at each school. He does hold regular meetings with the athletic directors, and because he has been on the other side of the table, he understands their concerns.
“I believe it was a good move to promote from within,” Battles said. “I think of my job as being there to help the athletic directors have the very best programs possible for their schools. I know about the programs in the district schools and about the life of coaching because I have lived it.”
It’s apparent when speaking with Battles that the administrative job suits him. He practically radiates with excitement as he talks about plans for middle school summer camps, the new athletic complex in the works that will be located on the property of the site of the new Spencer High School, and plans to add local sports tournaments so MCSD teams don’t have to travel to participate.
Battles also wants to hold more clinics for coaches and make resources available to coaching staffs that have previously only been accessible by traveling to other parts of the state. He hopes to establish more sports programs at schools where lack of coaching, funding, and interest have kept potential athletes from being able to compete.
“Take swimming for instance,” Battles said. “I would like to see every high school in the district have a swim team. We have such a great facility here now. To do that, you have to have coaches and the money to support the program, but I would like to see a swim team at every high school.”
Hitting the ground running with ideas and plans, he said, has been made easier for him due to the foundation laid by those who preceded him and also by the overwhelming support he has received from the school district administration.
Battles believes that trading in his Hawks coaching attire for dress shirts and ties was part of a divine plan.
“I laid it all down before God and said, ‘I want to go where you want me to go,’” Battles said. “And this is where I am.”
Name: Jeffrey Battles
Hometown: Harris County, Georgia
Previous jobs: Teacher and coach, St. Anne-Pacelli School; teacher, head football coach, and athletic director at Hardaway High School
Family: Wife, Jamie (teacher in MCSD); two daughters, 10 and 5 years old
Pastimes: Playing golf, wood working (learned it from his dad)
Columbus Valley/May 2016
Jeff Battles
MCSD Director of Athletics
Columbus, GA
Former Hardaway Football Coach Named New MCSD Director of Athletics
By Beth Welch
