Thomas S. "T" McFerrin - Class of 2019 Inductee
Channel: Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
Date: 2019-03-06

Thomas “T” McFerrin is one of Georgia’s most successful high school football coaches. During his 40-plus year career, he coached at eight different Georgia high schools taking struggling programs and making them successful.  

McFerrin began as an assistant coach at Druid Hills High School in Atlanta in 1965. Three years later he received his first head coaching position at Lithonia. After moving to Forest Park High School, where he coached for one season, McFerrin went to his home state of Tennessee to serve as head football coach at Sullivan High School in Kingsport for four years.

He returned to Georgia, coaching at Peachtree High School for seven years, Southeast Whitfield for one, Tucker for four, Elbert County for seven, and South Gwinnett for seven. He finished his coaching career at Jefferson, where he retired after four seasons. At the time of his retirement, McFerrin ranked fourth for all-time wins as a coach in the state of Georgia with 340.

McFerrin won 12 region championships and two state titles during his tenure. in 1993, he led Elbert County to its first regional title in 29 years and, two years later, captured its first-ever State Championship. His second and final state title would come in his last game as a head coach at Jefferson in 2012. He is the only Georgia head coach to lead four GHSA schools to the state finals, five to the state semifinals and seven to the state quarterfinals. He is also the only Georgia coach to lead seven GHSA schools to region championships.

In addition to coaching football, McFerrin also coached tennis (boys and girls), wrestling and volleyball and assisted in basketball and baseball. He was inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014. Now retired, McFerrin is a board member of the Walton-Barrow County Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is sometimes asked to speak to a team during their game week.