January 10, 2012
For those of you who thought this blog was about Harry Potter, sorry about that. Wrong Potter.
This one's about Ian Potter, Georgia Gwinnett College's latest athletic hire.
Potter should be familiar to people in Gwinnett, like he is to me. Until I read their names as GGC hires, I didn't know anything about head baseball coach Brad Stromdahl or head men's soccer coach Steve DeCou. I knew of head women's soccer coach Domenic Martelli from his years in the area.
But Potter, named recently as assistant athletic director for compliance, academic services and game operations at GGC, is different. As soon as I heard his name, it took me back.
A Berkmar grad, Potter was a star in the 110-meter hurdles as a high-schooler. Yours truly even wrote a 1998 feature story on him in the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The article was on Potter's pursuit of a state championship in the hurdles - he had the state's top time prior to the meet but finished as state runner-up - and it was evident back then that Potter was motivated for success.
Since leaving Berkmar and Clemson (where he was an All-ACC track and field performer), Potter has worked on the other side of college athletics at Clemson as a graduate assistant, at Alabama-Birmingham and at Augusta State since 2007.
It's the less glamorous side of college sports, with all the issues of NCAA eligibility, academic standing and the like. He won't be in the limelight much, but behind the scenes he will play a big role in making GGC athletics work.
He'll work hard at it, just like he did as a high school athlete.
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