GREENE COUNTY
Greene County’s wrestling program has seen its ups and downs over the last 30 years, but it’s looking to change that with its most recent hire. The GCHS administration just signed Aubrey Fortson, who will be taking over for former head coach Todd Clifton.
Clifton had a major influence in the development of Greene County’s wrestling program, but Fortson wants to take it to the next level by bringing in his philosophies.
“I’m trying to get the program back like it was in the late 90s,” Fortson said. “In the early 2000s, it kind of went down a little bit, but then coach Clifton came back trying to bring it back up, and now, as a new coach, I want to bring in my old ways and some things I’ve done at former schools that I’ve coached.”
Fortson comes into the head position with a lot of personal experience in both coaching and participating in the sport of wrestling.
The Elberton native was a two-time state champion and a three-time area champion in his four years as a Blue Devil at the prep level.
Not only has Fortson excelled around the wrestling mat, but he also found success around the football field. He played in high school and went on to earn a scholarship to play college football for the Tusculum Pioneers in Greenville, TN.
Once his career as a player finished, Fortson moved on to coach football and wrestling at the high school level. He began in his hometown at Elbert County High School coaching both sports before moving to Monticello to coach at Jasper County.
On top of that, Fortson is very familiar with Lake Country. He coached football at Putnam County, Morgan County and Baldwin High School over a six-year period, and now finds himself in his first year at Greene County having already finished his first football season as an assistant.
“At Greene County, wrestling isn’t really the popular thing, because it’s been down for so long,” Fortson said. “It’s not like it is at Morgan or Oglethorpe, and even Putnam is getting their program restarted, so I want to raise the status of wrestling to get more kids interested.”
Another change Fortson wants to make around the program is its longevity.
In the past, the Tigers’ wrestling team has dissipated after a couple of seasons, but Fortson wants Greene County to always be a force out on the mats.
To do so, Fortson believes it’s important to build the foundation at the middle school level so there’s a stronger network of athletes learning from a younger age.
“We want to start building a championship program here for all sports, and we can do it with wrestling just how we did when I was at Elbert County,” Fortson said. “We’re already getting the high school program rolling, so now we want to get the middle school involved because if our program is connected across both levels, we’ll be able to build around more guys.”
Looking forward, Fortson and the team will begin off-season workouts over the summer before heading into the next school year. Ultimately, kids and community members alike will be excited for another sports program to become more accessible.