McCook marches organizational skills to principal's office

It's the old-school business motto: Plan your work. Work your plan. High school business teacher Chris McCook lives the model.

Eleven years ago, when he first got into education, the Houston County High boys soccer coach set up a personal 20-year plan that would place him in a high school corner office as principal. McCook moved closer to his goal when Warner Robins High principal Steve Monday chose McCook as a vice principal, effective immediately.

"I told some (college) professors at the time, I'm going to teach for 10 years, be in administration for 10 years and then see what happens," McCook said by phone Monday.

McCook, who also coached the secondary for the Bears football team, ran the soccer team like a CEO. Players and parents proved grateful shareholders.

"I wanted to give everyone in the program ownership in it," McCook said. "I wanted them to feel like they were a part of it and let their personalities show through."

The dividends gleaned from his management style were impressive: a current streak of four Elite Eight appearances in tough-as-nails GHSA Class AAAAA, consecutive Region 1 titles from 2005-07 and dozens of all-region, all-county and All Middle Georgia selections, many of whom have gone on to play college soccer on scholarship.

To be sure, geography and demographics proved solid allies during his coaching tenure. The bulk of the local soccer-playing community lives on the south side of Watson Boulevard. Central Georgia Soccer Association is but a Jacob Primm free kick from the HoCo campus.

And McCook didn't squander his resources. He and long-time assistant Tony Jones cultivated the CGSA connection (Jones was a member of the organization's board) to the point where school ball and club ball weren't at odds in terms of talent utilization and philosophy.

In addition, there's a soccer booster club and a Web site. Most importantly, there's a legacy of success for whoever will be chosen to take over the program. (As of Friday morning, the position had not yet been filled.)

"It pretty much runs itself now," McCook said.

Interestingly, McCook was Monday's replacement as HoCo boys soccer coach when Monday answered a similar calling to administration back in 2000. It's a common matriculation - roughly a dozen principals or assistants in our five local high schools have coaching experience. As McCook said, the jobs have similar ends.

"You're trying to get people headed in the right direction," he said.

A Thank You letter from the Shaw's 
(06/08/2008) from the CGSA website

To all of our Soccer Family,

Thursday night¹s benefit soccer game in memory of Tyler was so special, I will not possibly be able to express my thanks. As I watched each and every player, the one thought that kept coming to my
mind was ³Joga Bonito²...Play Beautifully. It is something that I here from Tyler, Parker and Connor so frequently, as they share together their love for the game. Those words, Joga Bonito, stay fresh in my
mind now, as I have known for sometime, that our (seemingly crazy) commitment to our kids sport, was about so much more than just soccer. It has been about a family that plays beautifully together.

Needing only a ball, our boys will organize a brothers tournament anywhere any place. Whether it is the back yard, a motel hallway, parking lot, school hallway (when mom is working late and the principal is gone), or their apparent favorite pitch...Marcie¹s and my¹s bedroom, they play together and love nothing more than to have us
near to referee. It is unbelievable how many variations of the rules can be reate to match the venue.

Travel soccer with 3 players is not easy to keep up with. In our house, you can find a Eurosport catalogue in every room and will have to close out Nikesoccer.com or other site to have your turn on a computer. We are reminded daily of how often new models of cleats come out (and which of your kids have just been bought them!). We have
missed way more church than we should and been the absent family at many get togethers with extended family. Our families have probably felt neglected many times. We know that our commitment to this game
has been questioned by them, and yet they have all been supportive, whether they understand or not. But during this absolutely tragic time...the worst weeks of our lives, our families have seen for themselves and commented on the unbelievable support and strength of our soccer friends. They too realize that it is ³soccer family². My
brother in law Jon, with two exceptional boys of his own, hugged me on Thursday night and said ³you all are apart of something special here, this is pecial!². I agree!

It is simply heartwarming to see the love and support from players, parents, referees, trainers and the organization. You have never left our sides. From the phone call on Mothers Day night by the Hospital which changed our lives instantly, we had soccer family with us within 15 minutes. Parker¹s U-12 coach and wife, were at our house in
minutes, ready for anything; Tyler¹s friends and teammates did not even have to ask their fathers...they were on their way to Atlanta at near midnight...father and sons, to spend the next24 hours at the hospital with us; our dearest teammate and friend family divided up in minutes to see that Davis, our home and our local
family were taken care of, and that Marcie, Parker and Connor were brought quickly and safely to me, to be by Tyler¹s side. On Monday, as we walk out doors from hearing the final diagnosis of Tyler¹s condition and knowing he was gone forever, I was overwhelmed to see more than 50 people in the hallway there to love Tyler. CGSA was a
large part of that crowd, with players, parents, DOC and trainers there. You never left our sides and you have not stopped for 4 weeks.

Thursday night was the greatest tribute to Tyler, but also to the players he so loved to play with. I could not stop thinking, how much Tyler would have loved to play in that game. He would have loved the spirit in which it was played. It was a friendly game, with no losers...yet slide tackles, shirt pulling, crashing keepers, and shoulder dropping were present, because the players knew that is how Tyler would have wanted it...just like the real game he loved to Play Beautifully.

To all of you who supported this so strongly, we thank you and will never forget. For those who organized it, I love you so much. I would mention by name, but am afraid there are those who were instrumental that I am not even yet aware. We know things have been done for us by ³quiet disciples², unknown to us. We will be planning with the Board of CGSA for the future use of the money raised. You have honored Tyler in a wonderful way and we are committed to your spirit. One of the ideas we have had presented and want to implement, is a scholarship for talented young players who need the competition level of academy or select, but are prevented the opportunity due to financial reasons. I can think of no way to better celebrate Tyler¹s life and your efforts than to continue sustaining the organization with new players. It is an opportunity to use the money currently raised and to honor Tyler annually, by raising funds to sustain the scholarship. Other options and ideas will also be discussed, but it is important that you know, Marcie and I take your generosity seriously and will do our very best with it.

Thank you soccer family for being with us the whole way through. We miss him so bad. We will have a bitter sweet feeling every time we see a field where he should be playing along side your kids. We will hurt, and you will always be there to help.
We love you!
Jeff, Marcie, Parker, Connor, and Davis Shaw