COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton head football coach Terrance Banks pushed back on Friday night a report that he was heard saying he resigned from his position, stating that the report was inaccurate because his statements were taken out of context.
The Covington News reported Banks’ comments as a part of a postgame fracas involving Newton coaches and players from both schools after the Rams fell 35-34 to the Rockdale Bulldogs in Friday night’s double overtime game.
Banks, however, said Saturday that his true comments were in the context of him trying to remind his players and coaches that they are better than the behavior displayed.
“I never said that I resign,” Banks said. “I was telling my players that I may as well quit if I haven’t taught you or showed you how to better handle yourself. I was trying to relay to them that this wasn’t the way to handle things.”
Banks stated the reason why he walked away from a reporter’s questions Friday night after declining to speak more in depth about the situation was more because he was trying to hurry off to help prevent further confrontation than it was him simply avoiding the questions.
“When you’ve got a bunch of players who are involved in something like that, and you look and see that some coaches are getting heated again, all I was thinking was to go and try to get guys out of there,” Banks said. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Newton’s loss to Rockdale was its first since 2013, and its third defeat in the last four games. The Rams’ 4-6 record is the first regular season losing record since the 2008 team went 3-7.
Despite that, Newton will still enter the Class AAAAAAA state playoffs as a No. 3 seed, and will travel to West Forsyth (5-5, 4-1 in Region 5-AAAAAAA) for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday night, and Banks stated he has every intention of trying to do his best to prepare his team for postseason success.
“I would never say anything in a setting like that to make my kids think I’m quitting on them,” Banks said.
No official comment was made on the matter by either Newton athletic director, Vincent Byams or Newton principal, Shannon Buff.
