TIM MORSE: Worth County football losing a good one

The news of Jason Tone’s resignation as the head football coach at Worth County High School caught me off guard over the weekend. Let’s just say what Tone has done in four seasons has been impressive.

A 24-20 record and three trips to the playoffs, including back-to-back trips to the second round, and the teams that eliminated Tone’s Rams in the second round weren’t patsies — Buford (2015) and Greater Atlanta Christian (2016).

There’s a large part of me that believed the best was yet to come for Worth County football.

I considered Tone a great friend. From a media perspective, I hate to see him go. He always took time to promote his team and his players. It didn’t matter if I called him at midnight on football Fridays, he always took time out.

The only disagreement we ever had was two years ago when it slipped his mind that I was coming by to take two pictures for The Albany Herald’s Dynamite Dozen Team. I remember re-arranging my schedule in order to be in Sylvester that afternoon.

When I got there, the team was gone and Tone (with his ridiculously busy schedule) had forgotten my visit. I called him up and let him have it, saying some nasty things I shouldn’t have. He apologized several times, and he worked it out the next morning.

I think he and I both spent the next week apologizing to each other. We laugh about it now, but I think our relationship grew from that incident.

Worth County High School has always been a place where I’ve felt welcome. At Tone’s practices, I made myself at home. I trusted him and he trusted me.

When Tone tried to explain why he was stepping down over the weekend — with no job lined up — I understood. He told me he had spent many nights praying and felt the Lord leading him in a different direction.

I still understood.

He told me that people at Worth County had been so good to him, and he wanted to give them ample time to find a replacement. After all, his bosses are some of the most upstanding and high-integrity leaders you can work for, from principal Harley Calhoun to athletic director Frankie Carroll. There is a part of me that asks why Tone would want to leave such a great place.

“A lot of my coaching buddies have told me that you don’t quit a job until you have another one,” Tone said.

But like Tone, I myself confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I’m not ashamed to say it. Our walk as a Christian is having faith.

There are many times in my life people in the outside world thought I was crazy for doing something I felt, through much prayer, the Lord had directed me to do. I have made many mistakes and will make some more, but when I’ve prayed about it and the Lord’s hand has been in it, I’ve never been wrong.

The funniest thing is that Tone tried to explain his decision to me and why he did it.

Save the words coach. If God told you to step away after many weeks of prayer, then friends, co-workers and players need to rejoice with you because God has different plans.

“He’s a really good coach and a good person,” Carroll said. “He’s done a lot for those kids. People will never know the good things that he’s done for this program.”

And they won’t. Until he’s gone.