Paul Glass: Jeff Davis High School
Glass was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame in 2021.
Bio updated 8/30/2024
The radio interview was one that Paul Glass has never forgotten.
When local media personality Stan Rentz, who later served as the Jeff Davis County School Superintendent, asked Glass and another coach to meet at Hardees for his weekly radio show, Glass was a rookie high school baseball coach looking to make his mark in the Southeast Georgia coaching circuit at a school that had never had baseball success. It was his first head baseball coaching job after working in Wayne County as an assistant for six years.
“When people mentioned Jeff Davis High School sports, (former football coach) Tom Hybl and girls basketball coach Hugh McBride always came up,” Glass said. “I thought to myself that it would be nice to be able to throw baseball into the mix one day.”
That was in 1999.
More than 20 years later, Glass’ baseball program put Jeff Davis High School on the map. He holds an overall record of 521-266 entering the 2025 season. Before his arrival, the school had never made the state playoffs. He was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
“When they first told me I was going in, I said no way,” Glass said. “There are so many other coaches who need to be in there. I don’t feel like I’ve done enough.”
His coaching resume also includes five region titles, nine trips to the state quarterfinals, one trip to the semifinals, one state runner-up finish in 2004 and three state championships (2017, 2019, 2021). He has been named Region Coach of the Year five times, Georgia Dugout Club Coach of the Year three times and has served as the GDC Southeast All-Star Coordinator since 2007.
But his trip into coaching is a story in itself.
A native of Jacksonville (Ala.), Glass played on two NCAA Division II National championship teams at Jacksonville State under Alabama Sports Hall of Fame coach Rudy Abbott. But when his playing career was nearing its end, Glass wasn’t sure of his future career. His parents were in the business world, while his brother was in the insurance business.
“That was like speaking another language,” Glass said. “I didn’t get it. We were at practice one day talking about classes and majors. I got to thinking I could just coach. That could be my living and I’d still be involved (in baseball).”
Glass didn’t start coaching at the top. In his first three years at Wayne County, he coached the freshman team by himself before eventually moving up to be a varsity assistant. He said it was good experience that prepared him for bigger jobs.
In 1999, he landed at Jeff Davis. And the program hasn’t been the same since.
“He’s one of the good guys in baseball,” Former Vidalia and Treutlen head coach Brent Korn said. “The way he coaches up his kids says a lot about him. But the thing that separates him from the rest is the way he promotes the game and not just his kids. No matter the uniform, he promotes all players. He does that like no other.”