Mary Persons’ Greene riding off into sunset or onto another bench

When Kurt Greene left Jones County for Mary Persons back in 2010, he was departing a solid program he had built for one still seeking consistency.

At the tender age of 55, Greene was up for the task and showed as much by following a 13-13 debut season with the program’s first region title in 13 years and four straight seasons of at least 23 wins, plus a semifinal appearance.

But the yearly question of whether there is enough interest to field a junior varsity team makes sustaining that success difficult.

But Greene is ready to change seats, having told told principal Jim Finch of his plans March 1, then athletics director Brian Nelson on March 6 and the team a day later, ending — perhaps — his career at the same place it began in 1978.

He spent his first year out of college, Georgia, at Mary Persons as a student teacher, while serving as an assistant in football and basketball, beginning his career with legendary football head coach Dan Pitts as his boss.

Greene retires with a career mark as a girls head coach of 606-319 and multiple Final Four trips at Jones County and one at Mary Persons. Before heading up the Greyhounds and Bulldogs, Greene coached at Jonesco Academy, Gatewood, Windsor and Northside.

Greene has perhaps been underrated, showing an ability to get things done everywhere he has been.

“The thing I’m proud if is that in all my years of coaching, every school I worked at — with the exception of one, Northside, because I was only there one year — we went to a Final Four,” Greene said. “We went to at least one Final Four.”

Jones County won a pair of state championships in Class C in 1958 and 1960 under legendary head coach Richard Reid. But a general postseason dry spell of nearly four decades followed.

The Georgia High School Basketball Project website also lists Mary Persons having reached the Class B semifinals in 1962 and 1966 but not again until 2013 under Greene, who turns 62 on March 25.

Middle Georgia girls basketball lacks some consistency because of a dearth of junior varsity programs. The Bulldogs turned quality middle school seasons into quality varsity seasons, going 25-3, 27-3, 24-4 and 23-4 for arguably the best run in program history.

“I think it is (a reason),” Greene said of the struggles with junior varsity teams. “It’s hard to teach kids and to grow them. You’ve got ninth-graders that really ought to be playing on the JV, but because you don’t have a JV, because you ain’t got enough numbers, those ninth-graders get pole-vaulted into varsity, and they’re not quite ready.

“And that hurts quite a lot, when you have to do a kid that way.”

Greene likes where he works, under Finch, Nelson and superintendent Mike Hickman.

“They have been wonderful, they have all been wonderful to work for,” said Greene,. “That probably breaks my heart more than anything.”

Greene, who got married (Lonnag) for the first time two years ago, has coached some of the top girls players in recent Middle Georgia history, including Chimere Jordan at Jones County and KeKe Calloway at Mary Persons.

Jordan was a highly recruited guard back in the mid-2000s, but a knee injury erased the final six weeks of her senior season and then slowed her junior college career. She played for two years at Georgia College.

Calloway has been a mainstay in helping Mercer’s women to a 49-15 mark the past two seasons and a second straight trip to the WNIT.

Jordan was the All-Middle Georgia Girls Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006 and Calloway in 2013 and 2014. April Johnson earned a scholarship at Georgia Tech from Jones County.

“And I had a lot of good players to surround them,” he said. “We’ve been lucky.”

Greene is the lone stray from the family business, Greene’s Water Wells, in Gray. He has lived in Gray and Jones County his entire life, except for attending Georgia. He has four brothers — he’s the second-youngest — and one sister.

Greene could take the road of longtime friend and coaching pal John Carrick, who retired from full-time employment at Georgia College in 2007 and as the women’s basketball head coach after the 2009-10 season, the announcement coming about a month before Greene’s departure from Jones County.

Carrick’s basketball retirement lasted only a few months as he was named the girls basketball head coach at Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, where he still is.

“If I find the right place, I’d like for it to be a Carrick retirement,” Greene said. “I went into this thing, if something comes up, fine. If something doesn’t come up, that’s fine, too.”

As it turns out, Greene already has been contacted about a vacancy in the area.

“I feel confident that in my career, I’ve worked hard and done the things I needed to do to try to be successful,” he said. “I’ll just let the people’s opinions lie where they lie.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Mary Persons’ Greene riding off into sunset or onto another bench."