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Published Sunday, January 29, 2012 in Sports

Photo by Bob Fraley

Longtime Newnan High coach Harold Goodman, who led the Cougars to the 2009 Class AAAAA Final Four will be inducted into the Coweta Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 11.

Former Newnan coach 'honored' by selection to Coweta Sports Hall of Fame

By Chris Goltermann

The Newnan Times-Herald

Had it been two years ago, a double overtime thrill-a-minute basketball game would have engulfed Harold Goodman into the frenetic pace that only head coaches can truly comprehend and deal with on a nightly basis.

A shirt soon to be messed and untucked. A tie knot loosened by halftime.

As it was, however, Goodman was a mere bystander for the Newnan Cougars' double overtime game Friday at the Max Bass Athletic Complex, one that has as many twists and turns as any of his 315 total victories over 31 years between leading girls and boys teams.

A majority of them came on the same floor as he watched the Cougars take an early double-digit lead against a solid Langston Hughes lineup that was 13-6 heading into Friday night.

"I miss it some. I don't miss some of the stress that goes with it," Goodman said, looking more than comfortable watching from the upper deck of the gym in a workout suit. "In 31 years you have a lot of peaks and valleys. Life always does. But there were far more good days than bad."

The Coweta Sports Hall of Fame showed its own respect for Goodman, who equally coached football and more than a handful of track champions at Newnan High. He will be inducted next month as part of the hall's two-man Class of 2012 with former Cougar football player Roosevelt Hill.

The pair will be inducted at the 10th annual Coweta Sports Hall of Fame banquet to be held Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Coweta Fairgrounds. In addition to increasing the hall's membership to 71 during the ceremonies, the hall will also be honoring the Newnan High Class of 1951's sports triumphs, which included a state baseball championship, a 8-2 football season and a trip to the state basketball finals.

"I'm excited to be a part of that fraternity and I'm definitely honored by it," Goodman said of his selection to the Sports Hall of Fame. "It's a tribute to be included. I just want to thank the school system and the parents for giving me the opportunity to coach these kids."

None of the county's three public schools have ever experienced a state basketball championship. But after coming within a victory several times in the Elite Eight, the Cougars finally made it back to the semifinal round during the 2008-09 season for the first time in 44 seasons.

Goodman had coached region champion boys basketball winners in 2000, 2005 and 2006. But it was the 2008-09 lineup, led by the Cougars guard duo of seniors Russell Powell and Alan Bonner, that pushed the team over the top despite having only two players over 6-foot-3. Both Ogletree brothers, having completed their second year of football at Georgia, were also contributors along with Larry Harden and Antwon Johnson.

The best friends eventually went separate ways, but with equal amounts of success in college. Powell is now a starting junior point guard at Jacksonville University while Bonner has been an All-Conference football selection playing wide receiver at Jacksonville (Ala.) State.

"Russell and Alan were definitely the spark plugs that kept things going," Goodman said of the duo, who combined for 50 of Newnan's 85 points in an 11-point quarterfinal victory at Valdosta. "They really complemented each other well."

Newnan's Final Four banner, honoring a Cougar lineup that went 26-3 before losing to Milton in the semifinals, hangs prominently just above the goal at the far end of the gym. Two of the team's losses came in overtime that year as well as a pair against region foe Westlake, which also made the Final Four that year.

"We made it to the Elite Eight three times, I think and we always seemed to be one play away from making it," Goodman said. "It's so hard to do. But that season we finally got there."

Arriving at Newnan High as an assistant football coach under Max Bass in 1979 while teaching physical education and health at Evans Middle, he was also a part of the Cougars' North Region Championship in 1981.

Goodman became an assistant under Newnan basketball coaches Jerry North and Terrell Reid before accepting the head girls varsity job. After winning nine games his first season, the program won no less than 16 games in his final four years as head coach before taking on the head boys job in 1992.

Along with wife Patricia, Goodman is a parent of two outstanding track athletes -- son Demiko who ran and played football at Georgia, and Chalonda, now in her third year with the University of Texas' prestigious women's program -- having coached more than his share of champions at the state, national and Junior World levels.

Both are now actively pursuing trips to this year's Summer Olympics in London. Chalonda, who swept 100 and 200 yard state titles during all four varsity seasons at Newnan, is still returning to form after suffering a pair of injuries last year. She suffered a high ankle sprain among setbacks and at one point thought her season was over following an Achilles injury that was supposed to end her season.

Instead, she battled back to qualify for the NCAA Championships in three events, anchoring a fifth place effort in the 400-meter relay. She reached the second round of last year's USA Track and Field Championships.

"She's been getting stronger and she's closing in on being a hundred percent," Goodman said. "They're both hoping to get there. It's definitely a goal for both of them."

Demiko is also in Austin, both training and putting the finishing touches of his masters in Theology. The elder Goodman has been pastor of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church for the past 11 years.

Despite watching Newnan's boys fall in double overtime against Langston Hughes in a heartbreaking 71-70 loss, Goodman made sure to head toward the locker room to give his former colleague and eventual successor Rod Ladd a pat on the back, knowing a young lineup is showing potential.

"They've definitely got some talent," he said of this year's Cougars, who started four underclassmen on Friday night while led by sophomores Donnell Dean and Immanuel Griggs. "These sophomores have a chance to be very good."

•••

(Editor's Note: Tickets for the Coweta Sports Hall of Fame banquet set for Feb. 11 are $25 and available by contacting Elizabeth Crain at 770-253-1235. Former All-Pro and Georgia Tech offensive lineman Kent Hill, a successful cookie entrepreneur and speaker, will be the guest speaker at this year's banquet.)

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