A.C. McCullers has always been passionate about sports.
Throughout high school, McCullers participated in football, baseball, basketball, and track. He then moved on to play football in college at the University of Chattanooga. After graduating from college, his love for sports influenced him to begin coaching. He took his first job in 1968 as the head football coach at North Whitfield High School in Dalton. While there, McCullers noticed an opening for a girls’ basketball coach. He accepted the position and coached girl’s basketball every year of his career until his retirement.
“It’s just something I’ve enjoyed doing, and I’ve had a really good success from it,” McCullers said. “The biggest part about being successful and winning is having these kids that want to work as hard as they have to work to win.”
Over the years, McCullers served as the assistant football coach and head girls’ basketball coach at Morrow High School, the head women’s basketball coach at Clayton State University, and the assistant football coach and head girls’ basketball coach at Union Grove High School. He retired from coaching at Strong Rock Christian School in 2019, having been the head girls’ basketball coach and head coach for boys and girls golf. In total, McCullers has dedicated 52 years of his life to coaching.
In recognition of his remarkable career and his stellar record of 877-336 as a high school girls’ basketball coach, McCullers was inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame on May 30, 2020. He said he was “blessed” to receive the honor.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” said McCullers. “It’s a humbling experience.”
Delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic, a banquet recognizing the 2020 Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductees was held on June 5. Although he has retired from coaching, McCullers still enjoys assisting and passing on five decades’ worth of knowledge to his daughter, who serves as the head girls’ basketball coach at Creekside Christian Academy in McDonough.
By Erin Lopez
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