All about family: Cummings brothers keep Central’s football program going

Rod Cummings faced a little bit of a dilemma during his high school football playing days.

Playing for Robert Davis at Westside during the height of the Seminoles’ run of success in the early 2000s, Cummings was a part of a program that was doing a lot of special things at the time.

But his older brother, Robert “Bo” Cummings, was just starting his high school coaching career at Baldwin after playing at Albany State. Jesse Hicks, then an assistant at Albany State, was taking his first head coaching job in Milledgeville, and Robert was invited to join Hicks’ staff.

Naturally, the older brother wanted younger brother to play for the Braves. And, as they tell the story more than a decade later, the move almost happened.

“I would have loved the opportunity to play for my brother,” Rod said. “Of course, I knew Coach Hicks for a long time from his days at Albany State and how he and my brother came closer together.

“A couple of things went on at Westside to where there was a possibility I was going to go to Baldwin. But I ended up staying, and that worked out for me, also.”

Years later, in 2012, Rod finally joined Robert as coaches on Hicks’ staff when Hicks took over at Central. They’re now Hicks’ coordinators -- Robert on offense, Rod on defense -- for a Central program that went to the playoffs last year and has a strong chance to return this season.

Like Bo and Hicks, Rod played his college football at Albany State. And that’s where the similarities between the three begin.

“Being Albany State guys, you kind of know each other,” said Hicks, who spent eight seasons at Baldwin and two at Dougherty before taking over the Central program. “You kind of know what to expect. You’ve got the same line containment, you do things alike. We all have a little bit of (head coach Mike) White in us, who was our defensive coordinator and head coach at one time, and all the guys who coached us.

“It makes it easier for us because we know what to expect from each other. We know the layout of how things need to be done, the hard work, the things that we went through as players coming from Albany State and then understanding what it takes to be successful. All of us played at a high level at Albany State.”

At Albany State, Hicks worked extensively with Robert. Hicks’ office was in the weight room, a place where Robert spent considerable time.

It got to the point, Hicks said, where it was almost as if Robert, a Central product, became part of the Hicks family.

“I came up through the weight room one day and pulled him in the office, and I said, ‘Hey, listen, there’s a good chance that I’m going to get a head coaching job, possibly in the area you’re from, in Baldwin County. Would you like to get a job?’ ” Hicks said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m getting ready to graduate.’ He was actually the first guy I hired.”

The choice, Robert said, was a no-brainer.

“For me, it wasn’t a hard sell at the time, coming out of college,” Robert said. “I had some aspirations to play at the next level, but that was my second year removed from really playing. Now it’s time to deal with real life. It was easy to go to Baldwin, come back near home. I had a son near home, so that was an easy sale for me.”

They have enjoyed a lot of success through the years. Baldwin had seven winning seasons in the eight during which Hicks served as head coach, with the other season a 6-6 affair. The Braves went to the Georgia Dome in 2005, losing to Northside in the GHSA Class AAAA semifinals.

After two years at Dougherty where he went 3-17, Hicks jumped at the opportunity to take to open Central position. He able to bring Robert with him, and he was able to add Rod to his staff.

By their second season in Macon, Rod was promoted to defensive coordinator. Last year, Central’s defense posted two shutouts, and the Chargers opened this season with a 31-0 win over Wilkinson County.

“(Robert) has been with me since 2002, been a coordinator for some years now and has really done an excellent job,” Hicks said. “He had the opportunity here, once I took this job in Macon, to bring his brother along. The first year he was coaching the linebackers, and then I promoted him to defensive coordinator, which is one of the best moves I’ve made here.”

Ironically, Rod still has a toe in the Westside program. He teaches at Weaver Middle School, the feeder to Westside.

Robert, meanwhile, teaches at the same school he attended, Miller Middle School. His son, Bobby, graduated earlier this year after playing wide receiver and cornerback for the Chargers.

“Coach Davis was one of the best coaches I ever had,” Rod said. “A lot of the same things I see in Coach Hicks, I saw in Coach Davis. He cared about his kids, and he wanted what was best for his kids. That’s why it was such an easy transition to come work for Coach Hicks.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 7:26 PM with the headline "All about family: Cummings brothers keep Central’s football program going ."