For most of the past 30 years, the drive for Charles David to work has been the same as it ended at Clifton Ridge Middle School, where until last week he was the school’s athletic director.
All of that changed after David was named director of athletics for the Jones County School System following an executive session of the Jones County Board of Education’s April 15 meeting.
“It’s a dream come true,” David said.
David replaces Chad Alligood, who resigned from the position in early February. In David, Jones County has someone at the helm of its athletics program that needs no introduction to most in the community, either from his time at Clifton Ridge or stints at the high school level that has included basketball as well as football under Justin Rogers.
“He understands the community,” JCHS principal Dennis Woolfolk said. “He’s coached pretty much every sport and has been able to be involved with high school sports. He understands the community and knows what we need to be successful.”
David has coached with or under a who’s who of coaching and administrators during a coaching tenure that began in 1995 at Califf Middle School and later in 2010 as athletic director when Clifton Ridge opened. Woolfolk was among those who David has gleaned examples of leadership and coaching from through the years, along with Justin Rogers, Charles Gibson and John Trimnell.
“This is big for us; it’s huge to have Coach David come in,” Woolfolk said. “He has lot of experience on the middle school level, but he didn’t just focus on that, He is a lifelong learner and ready to hit the ground running.”
David has already hit full-speed-ahead in that regard, moving into his role at the high school last Wednesday morning and already maintaining a presence at athletic events, such as last week’s girls state tennis tournament match.
“The most exciting thing is that it’s something new and a new challenge, to come in and handle lots of sports that I didn’t see in middle school and see the intricacies of the GHSA,” David said. “I know that there are a lot of things that I need to learn, but I have great support staff and have already gotten numerous texts from people asking me to let them know if I needed anything.”
