Rick Tomberlin went to a Valdosta City Schools board meeting on Monday night hoping to hear that the eight-member board had voted to keep him on.
Instead, the Valdosta football coach was told by superintendent Bill Cason that Cason's decision from last month will stand: Tomberlin's contract will not be renewed. The coach is out after four seasons and a 22-21 record.
A vote of school board members that some expected never took place because it is not needed in cases of declining to renew an employee's contract for the next year, according to a report in today's Valdosta Daily Times.
"I'm very disappointed," Tomberlin told the newspaper. "I appreciate our good friends that came out and supported me [at the Board meeting] ... I don't agree with it. I think it's a big mistake, and I don't understand the logic. ... I'm hurt and surprised."
Cason declined comment to the Daily Times after the meeting.
Tomberlin told GHSF Daily earlier Monday that he has received calls from two schools interested in discussing job openings with him.
Tomberlin also sounded hopeful before the meeting that the board would reconsider his firing after Valdosta had won its final three regular-season games and qualified for the playoffs from Region 1-AAAAA.
Tomberlin was told by Cason on Oct. 12, four days after a 57-15 loss to arch-rival Lowndes, that his contract would not be renewed. But it had been reported and assumed that Cason's decision would require board approval.
According to the Daily Times, board approval is required only if an employed is terminated before his contract expires. Tomberlin can remain at Valdosta as a faculty member and athletics director through the school year.
On Nov. 9, Tomberlin met before a closed session of the board and made a case for his reinstatement. There was no indication how a vote would've turned out, but the issue proved moot.
Tomberlin's final game came on Friday, when Lowndes lost to Class AAAAA's third-ranked team, Newnan, 28-9.
Valdosta was 7-4 this season. Tomberlin is 222-100 in 27 seasons as a head coach and won state championships in 1994, 1996 and 1997 at Washington County.
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