Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of biographies about head coaches at Dawson County Schools.
Head Varsity Football Coach Jeff Lee will be at the helm for his seventh season at Dawson County High School.
Lee has had some success in Dawsonville with back-to-back winning seasons in 2004 and 2005. In 2004 he led the Tigers to an 8-3 record and a first round game in the state playoffs.
Dawson lost to Coosa 21-6 in that game. 2005 was also a great season for Dawson with a 7-3 record.
Since then, the Tigers have struggled, achieving 3-7 campaigns over the last two seasons.
Lee’s career coaching record is 95-100 and he has a 26-35 record at the school.
The 26 wins at Dawson is impressive since the Tigers had only won 102 games in the previous 33 years prior to Lee’s arrival.
The Tiger skipper has been known to turn programs around. Before arriving in Dawsonville, Lee was head football coach and athletic director at Jones County High School in Gray.
The Greyhounds were in the midst of a 28 game losing streak in football. The school was best known for basketball and Al Wood, an All-American basketball player for Coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina.
Under Lee, the Greyhounds reached the state playoffs two years running and won a region championship.
Before going to Jones County, Lee started the football program at Twiggs County High School in Jeffersonville. The Cobras were in the state playoffs in three short years.
While at Twiggs, Lee served as head football coach and athletic director.
Lee has also been head coach and athletic director at Hardaway High School in Columbus, head coach at Charlton County High School in Folkston and Georgia Military College in Milledgeville.
He has also served as assistant football coach at Dodge County High School, his alma mater, and as a college assistant coach at Valdosta State University.
Lee has a specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial College, a master’s degree in administration from Georgia College and State University and a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Georgia Southern University.
At Georgia Southern, Lee played for legendary coach Erk Russell. Lee lettered all four years playing for the Eagles. He was named a permanent team captain as a senior while in Statesboro.
After college, Lee played some professional football. He played for the Orlando Renegades and Tampa Bay Bandits of the old United States Football League.
While at Tampa he was coached by Steve Spurrier, former coach of the Florida Gators, Washington Redskins, and current head coach at the University of South Carolina.
During the NFL strike year of 1987, Lee had the privilege of playing for the Atlanta Falcons as a center.
Lee is married to Catherine Lee of Macon. They have two children, Caroline, an eighth grader, and Gavin who will be a freshman at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.