Girls Preparatory School has named long-time coach and faculty member Jeff Gaither to serve as the school’s interim Athletic Director through June 15. A national search has begun for a fulltime athletic director.
In his 20 years as English teacher and coach at GPS, Mr. Gaither has served as a head coach for varsity cross country, varsity track, middle school track, and middle school cross country. A two-time Boston Marathon finisher, Mr. Gaither was this year’s Chattanooga Times Free Press girls’ area cross country Coach of the Year. He is a four-time recipient of the TFP girls’ track Coach of the Year award.
As head coach for GPS track and cross country, Mr. Gaither’s teams won three consecutive state track championships from 2005 to 2007 and one state cross country title. He has coached 48 individual state track and cross country champions. He served as GPS’s head varsity basketball coach in 2002 for a team that was region runner-up and qualified for the state tournament.
After earning his bachelor’s in English from the University of Georgia, Mr. Gaither was the head coach for the university’s men’s and women’s cross country team and was assistant coach for men’s track.