Unity Christian Names First Head Football Coach
Joe Curtiss, athletics director at Unity Christian School, has been named the school’s first head football coach, UCS headmaster Glenn Getchell announced Thursday. Curtiss, who is also a physical education teacher at UCS, has spent the past three seasons as the defensive line coach at Shorter College.
The 2008 season will mark Unity’s inaugural football campaign, as UCS’ middle school will field the school’s first squad. A high school team will be added in 2009.
“Coach Curtiss is deeply committed to Christian education and developing young men that would impact the world for Christ,” Getchell said. “He’s been a member of our staff since 2005, so he knows what we do and we know that he loves what he does. He’s also a very experience football coach. To have him lead our program is certainly a blessing.”
Curtiss came to Rome in 2005 to help Shorter head coach Phil Jones build the Hawks’ football program from scratch. He’s looking forward to building UCS’ program into a success on and off the field just as Jones has done across town at Shorter.
“Above everything else, this is a great opportunity to further impact young men for Christ and to help them grow closer to God,” Curtiss said. “That’s the primary reason I’m taking on this role.
“Working for Coach Jones at Shorter as he built that program was an incredible experience, and it will definitely help me as we build the program at UCS. But more than that, working for a man of God like Phil Jones will stay with me forever. I wish I had a chance to work for him earlier in my career. He has not only made me a better football coach, but a better man.”
Prior to coming to Rome to work at Shorter and UCS, Curtiss led the Billings (Mont.) Mavericks of the National Indoor Football League to the playoffs as the team’s head coach in 2005. In 2002, he took the Billings Outlaws to the NIFL championship game in the first of two seasons as the Outlaws’ head coach.
Curtiss’ coaching career began at his alma mater, Rocky Mountain College, where he served as the NAIA school’s defensive line coach from 1996-1999 and the defensive coordinator in 2000 and 2001. The Bears won a pair of conference championships during Curtiss’ coaching tenure there.
He joined RMC’s coaching staff after playing on the Bears’ defensive line as a junior and senior. He transferred to Rocky Mountain from San Bernardino (Calif.) Valley College, where he played as a freshman and sophomore.
Curtiss and his wife, Johnna, have four children: Ashley, 13; Emma, 13; Brittany, 9; and Ben, 8.
UCS’ football program will become a member of the Georgia Football League, and the team will include players from UCS, St. Mary’s School, Berry Middle School and homeschoolers. Spring practice began this week with approximately 30 players and will continue next week at Grizzard Park. Currently, seven games are on the 2008 middle school schedule, with the inaugural game scheduled for Sept. 28. Curtiss said he is looking to add more games to the schedule.
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