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by Robert Preston Jr.
photography by Micki K Phototgraphy
For Rufus McDuffie, basketball has been his life since he was old enough to walk. He played every day growing up in the cotton and tobacco fields in Appling County and enjoyed a successful career as an undersized point guard at Appling County High and, later, at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. After leaving ABAC, Rufus spent a year working minimum wage jobs, then realized he would be better off coaching and teaching. “I went back to school. This time, I didn’t play basketball, though,” he recalls. It was time for him to get serious about his education. Still, basketball wasn’t very far away.
McDuffie finished his education at Georgia Southern University and landed a job as an assistant basketball, football and track coach at Pierce County High in Blackshear. He worked at Pierce County for one year and found himself entertaining two head coaching jobs the following season. “I was offered the head coaching job at Pierce County and at Mitchell-Baker. I considered everything and accepted the job at Mitchell-Baker,” he says.
Little did he know that he was beginning one of the most successful runs of any basketball coach in South Georgia. McDuffie coached at Mitchell-Baker for 20 years, from 1982-2002. In that time, he won five state championships and played for the state title the last six years he was there. The year after he left, the Eagles brought home another state championship to Camilla.
Coach McDuffie attributes his success at Mitchell-Baker to a simple love of the game. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also fiercely competitive, and those two qualities helped him create a high school basketball powerhouse in Southwest Georgia. “I’ve always been crazy in love with basketball. I grew up working in the cotton and tobacco fields, and we used to play basketball at lunch — no matter how hot it was or what kind of surface we had to play on,” he says. Coach McDuffie was the youngest of 10 children, so there were always enough kids around to field several teams. McDuffie was always smaller than everyone else, so he had to learn the game inside and out. He also attributes a great deal of success to his high school coach. “I had a great coach at Appling County. Much of what we do today is based on what we were doing back then,” he states.
When he arrived at Mitchell-Baker, Randolph-Clay was the team to beat in the region. Coach McDuffie wasn’t going to sit around and accept defeat simply because Randolph-Clay had been winning. His goal was to win a championship, and he remained committed to that goal no matter what. “We had to get better to compete,” says Coach McDuffie. And get better they did. The Eagles won state in 1990 and 1991. They made it to the finals in 1996, then won the championship again from 1998-2000.
During those years, Coach McDuffie turned out a number of college and professional basketball players. Several have played professionally outside the United States, while one former player had an eight-year NBA career. Jumaine Jones graduated from Mitchell-Baker in 1997 and went to the University of Georgia, where he was one of the best players in the SEC while he was a Bulldog. After his sophomore year, he entered the NBA draft, and the Atlanta Hawks took Jones with the 27th pick in the first round. Jones spent eight years in the NBA with several different teams and is currently playing in Italy.
After two decades at Mitchell-Baker, Coach McDuffie decided it was time for another challenge, and he accepted the head basketball position at Washington County. He coached the Golden Eagles for four years, where his teams won the region title twice, finished runner-up once and made the state playoffs all four years.
After he had been at Washington County for four years, he received a call from an old high school friend. Rick Tomberlin, Valdosta High’s head football coach at the time, and Coach McDuffie attended Appling County High together. The Wildcats were looking for a basketball coach, and Coach Tomberlin called McDuffie and talked to him about the job. “I knew about Valdosta mainly from football. I didn’t think anything would come from our conversation,” says Coach McDuffie.
As it turned out, Valdosta offered him the job, and he accepted. When he came to Valdosta in 2006, the Wildcats had a decent team. He thought that ’06 team had the potential to be pretty good; Valdosta had a 6’7” player down low and a talented point guard. However, the point guard didn’t make it through the season, and that spelled the doom of the 2006 Wildcats. “I think we could have made a run at the region if we had kept the point guard. I don’t care how many big men you have, if you don’t have a good point guard, you’re going to struggle,” he says.
In 2007, Coach McDuffie’s Wildcats made the playoffs and advanced to the second round. Last year, they won the region title and finished the season with a remarkable 28-2 record, losing only one regular season game. In the midst of that remarkable season, the Wildcats battled through adversity of the cruelest kind when, at the end of the regular season, assistant coach Derrick Keaton passed away. The team played on despite the loss and finished the year after a solid postseason run.
This season, the Wildcats have to fight through adversity of another persuasion. Valdosta graduated four of its starters from the 2009 team; the only returning starter is last year’s 1-AAAAA Player of the Year, Jay Rome. Jay, a 6’7” junior, averages about 19 points and 10 rebounds per game. He’s one of the most sought-after high school football players in the country, but is also a bona fide Division I basketball prospect as well. Despite the obvious challenges that come with losing 80 percent of your team to graduation, Coach McDuffie isn’t ready to give up on the 2009-2010 season. He displays the same tenacity that helped turn Mitchell-Baker into a perennial powerhouse when he talks about this year’s Wildcat team. “Our goal this year is to make a run at the region title. The guys are playing hard and getting better,” he says.
McDuffie likes for his teams to play a fast, aggressive style of basketball. His players rely on speed and athleticism, and are in constant motion. He likes to press, trap and push the ball down the floor. McDuffie’s players aren’t afraid to shoot a three, and they are always attacking the basket. “It’s exciting to watch us play. We also get more players in the game. We try to play at least 10 guys per quarter and get everybody some time on the floor,” he says.
Over the years, McDuffie has seen a lot of changes in the way athletes approach the game. Basketball hasn’t changed, but the athletes have. “I don’t think kids play as much on their own as they used to. They have too many video games, too much other stuff to do,” he says. In fact, his biggest concern when he came to Valdosta was that the kids wouldn’t have the same love for basketball that he does. He’s been pleasantly surprised with the reception he has received. The kids have responded to his system, as have the fans. “We’ve got great fan support. They seem to like our style and enjoy the way we play,” he says.
Many coaches who have experienced the success that McDuffie has are tempted to set their sights on the next level. It’s something he’s considered in the past. When Jumaine Jones signed with Georgia, then-coach Tubby Smith asked McDuffie to come to Athens with Jones as an assistant coach. He planned on accepting Coach Smith’s offer — until Smith left Georgia for the University of Kentucky. “When that happened, I decided to remain in high school. I’ve never regretted that decision, and I plan to stay a high school coach,” he says.
Coach McDuffie has also coached the Valdosta High men’s tennis team to the Final Four the last three years. He’s an avid tennis player who does his best to play at least four times per week. In addition to coaching basketball and tennis, he serves as an assistant principal at Valdosta High.
Coach McDuffie and his wife, Lanita, have three daughters: Nyisha, Shayla and Lanita.
Espn.com and eurobasket.com contributed to this story. •
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