Not 30 minutes after Bulloch Academy announced former Southeast Bulloch head football coach Pat Collins would be taking over as the Gator’s new athletic director, SEB decided to drop a news bomb of their own.
    Barely a week after Collins had announced he would leave his post — essentially vacating two positions at once for SEB — the school named both a new athletic director and interim head football coach Wednesday afternoon.
    John Page, currently serving as an assistant principal and head basketball coach, will step in as the new athletic director to fill the void left by the retiring Jack Webb. Collins was in line to be the new athletic director at SEB, but his departure left a hole open in the line of succession. According to incoming principal Stephen Hoyle, there wasn’t a better fit for the job.
    “He was my first choice and he knows everything there is about the school being a 1975 graduate and coach for more than 30 years,” Hoyle said. “He knows all the students and is very involved in our community. He is the perfect fit in my opinion.”
    The interim head football coach will be none other than Steve Pennington, thrust back into the head coaching ranks not six months after leaving his post as Statesboro’s head coach — a position he held for 13 seasons. Between the option of going out to hire a new coach or placing Pennington in the interim role, Hoyle said the interim option was the easiest decision for everyone involved.
    “Based on the timing of coach Collins’ departure it would have been very hard for the committee to get a search together while getting another coach out of his contracts,” Hoyle said. “We needed to look internally and coach Pennington has a lot of experience and knows the staff the best. We appreciate him being able to take over like he did. It would have been a halt to the entire summer program. The kids won’t miss a beat now.”
    Pennington will be the first to admit he wasn’t looking to take over another program. It wasn’t two weeks ago he was handing out equipment in the SEB laundry room and thinking about how the linebackers were dropping into their zones earlier at practice. Pennington had finally gotten back to his roots as a defensive coordinator and was happy being in that role.
    Then when Collins and Webb left in their separate directions, Pennington was left as the senior-most assistant on SEB’s staff. No one left on the Yellow Jacket coaching staff even comes close to having the success Pennington’s had as a head coach, so speculation that he would be the one to take over started immediately.
    After much thought and prayer, Pennington knew it was the right thing to do after all was said and done — even if it wasn’t what he initially thought he was brought to Brooklet for.
    “The purpose in what I could to do mentor coaches and lead young people in the capacity in growing their character — that purpose was greater than winning,” Pennington said. “I felt like it was only then the good Lord made the right call for me. It has proved great peace for me. I wasn’t looking for it, but it was something I feel I could do the best I can at.”
    Pennington’s resume as a head coach speaks for itself. He’s won 60.8 percent of the 326 games he's been a head coach — 198 wins if you're keeping count. That span's included region titles at Louisville, Appling County and Statesboro in three different decades across three different classifications.
    And don’t forget the 2005 state championship he won with the Blue Devils. The team went 15-0 and shut out opponents in six of their 15 games.
    On the outside, it may seem like Southeast Bulloch slapped an interim tag on Pennington and rushed the hiring process — considering it only took the school a week to find Collins’ replacement. But Pennington disagrees with such a notion, saying it would have hurt the program to try and rush to find another head coach from outside SEB and break the potential candidate's contract.
    “A leisurely pace accomplishes more than hurried striving. When we rush, we forget who we are and whose we are,” Pennington said. “For the SEB program, we can’t afford to do that. Having an interim head coach allows everyone to catch their breath and see in due time what direction is best.”
    Funny enough, Collins himself was quick to laud the decision by his former school. He stated he would have been happy with anyone on his old staff taking over, but he knows with Pennington his old team will be in good hands.
    “I wish coach Pennington and the staff success for the upcoming season,” Collins said. “I have a lot of me invested in those kids. Those boys have everything back in place a week after the fact and I’ll be pulling for them all season.”
     As for Page, he’ll continue to serve as SEB’s head basketball coach — acknowledging he may have to delegate more to his assistants now that he’ll have more responsibilities as the AD. He wanted to be clear he will make sure every sport is given its fair shake at SEB and hopes to continue the work left behind by Webb.
    “In the words of coach (Fred) Shaver I bleed blue and gold,” Page said. “I see this as a new challenge in my career and will try to make the most of it.”
    No details have been discussed as to what the next steps are for someone to succeed Pennington when that time comes. Keeping reading the Herald for updates on this story and follow all the Bulloch County prep news at @SHprepsports on Twitter.