By: Joe Tucker

George Teague is currently the AD and Development Director at a small Christian School outside of Dallas and an assistant football coach for the school.  George says that being an athletic director has really been an enlightening experience for him.  “You never really realize all the planning that goes into a program.  Who’s going to wash the clothes, which bus is going to leave when, and the little things that you don’t think about as a player, because we just show up and we’re ready to play the game.   Being on the other side, even as a coach, you just never think about it.  It has definitely been an eye opener for me, but it also makes for a good challenge to be able to run an entire athletic department.”

George understands the pressure and scrutiny that Mal Moore has been under at Alabama.  “Let me say that the pressure of being the athletic director and being responsible for the hiring and firing of all of your coaches is a big burden, everybody is looking at you.  The other part is doing the academics part of it.  I think Mal has done a good job, he has hired some good coaches and you have to let them do their job, if they can’t then you have to replace them.  He’s done a lot of other things as well, like the big fund raising to redo the stadium, Bryant Hall, we have new tennis courts; there is all kind of stuff going on, so he’s done a good job.  If he decides he wants to move on I’m not sure who that next person will be.  I don’t think it is something I am ready for at this point, so I’m not ready to throw my name in the hat. That is a whole different level than where I’m at right now as compared to the pressure you get from being at a place like Alabama.  I don’t know who it will be that eventually replaces Mal, but it will be a tough situation to handle.” 

George says that having God in your life is extremely important, especially coming from being on the other side for a while. “I walked on the other side for a while where I wasn’t living a Christian life.  Even though I was blessed with a few things, I always had that empty feeling on the inside.  Until I rededicated myself to the Lord, I really didn’t understand how important the Lord was to the success of my life.  I played nine years in the National Football League and I had at least four years of my playing days that were just horrific for me.  People may have thought every thing was good for me because I was in the NFL and glamorous, but I was down in the dumps.  There were times I wanted to quit, I was doing things with my body I shouldn’t have been doing, but when He came back and really sought me out, my spirit, the way I played the football game, all the blessings that I received through my family, and even afterwards.  Whoever thought I could be an athletic director anywhere, or even a head football coach?  These are all things that I know are blessings from the Lord, so when I’m speaking to anybody, it doesn’t matter if it’s kids or grown ups, you’ve got to have Jesus in your life in order to be the person that we’re called to be.  One of the struggles I have had with that is that being a Christian and doing what the Lord has asked you to do.  I’ve been specifically called to work here at a small school to be around the kids, and I honestly believe that.  It goes back to our youth not necessarily understanding or falling into the trap of what’s on T.V., radio and everything else about how bad it is to be a Christian.  In having two younger kids you have to have morals, and they have to be taught what is right and wrong and this can’t be based on nothing or something created out of air, without having any principles to it.  We have a rule book in the Holy Bible and it will lay out to us exactly what we are suppose to do and if that is not shared with our kids then that’s what is happening in our society and the way it’s starting to decline.  We have people killing each other and everything else.  It’s all because of the basis of what we didn’t do.  If we are not doing what is right as men and as parents to raise our kids in a way that they know the difference between right and wrong as is described in the bible, they are not going to be happy, they are going to be into lust and all other things you don’t want these kids to go through.”  George has two kids, a son, James who is 14 and a daughter, Jada who is eight. 

Though he came in under Curry, George says Coach Stallings was awesome.  “He would get down in the trenches with you.  He was all about doing the right thing and still is to this day.  Though I don’t talk to him that often, he still asks about the family, and if I’m doing the right thing.  We had all type of personalities on that staff, some yellers and screamers, tough guys, and he was able to mesh his coaching staff together and more importantly he influenced all of us as a player there that stuck with us for a long time.  I know that for a fact.” 

George sees a lot of similarities between Stallings and Saban.  “One of the things that Saban conveyed to me was how much he cared about the players graduating and making sure that that happened so that they would have the best opportunity to be great leaders in the community after they had played.  I had not heard that from anybody over there and that just strikes you differently.  He said he wants to win and that he knows how to coach, and we know he knows how to coach.  He can win football games, but what the difference is, and it was this way with Coach Stallings, is what he has in his heart for his athletes.  It’s not just x’s and o’s, but when you leave here, you’re walking out of here with a degree and your not going to come crying back here about you didn’t have an opportunity.  That hit me very, very hard in a good way, to know that he actually cares about the kids that he’s going to be bringing in to the University.” 

Stay Tuned for Part Two.....

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