Though Girls Preparatory School and McCallie School often are viewed as sister-brother institutions, 1990 McCallie graduate Jay Watts admits to having had a somewhat limited knowledge of the inner workings of GPS during his prep days.
"I was aware it was an all-girls school," Watts said. "I was aware those girls sometimes played sports on the McCallie campus. But I'd never been inside a GPS academic building until I went there for my (job) interview."
That interview apparently went quite well. The 44-year-old Watts has been named GPS's new athletic director and varsity basketball coach. The longtime assistant athletic director and girls' lacrosse coach at Westminster School in Atlanta begins his duties in July.
Jay WattsHe's spent 17 years as Westminster's assistant AD.
"Jay is a man of vision and ideas," Dr. Autumn Graves, GPS head of school, said in a news release. "In his first interview with the GPS search committee, he impressed us with his beliefs about the role of athletics in the development of girls and how athletics helps to build community."
While Watts - who played on the very first McCallie varsity lacrosse team - has seen his biggest coaching fame come from guiding Westminster to nine girls' lacrosse state titles, he also has coached basketball on one level or another since his days at McCallie.
"My very first coaching job was a volunteer position at the Henry Branch YMCA," said Watts, whose mother Sharon Watts still lives in Brainerd. "That experience coaching youth basketball sparked a personal journey that has taken me as far away as Prague in the Czech Republic to be a part of a Women's Lacrosse World Cup. I am energized by the opportunity to compete at a high level with the basketball program at GPS."
Watts replaces interim AD Jeff Gaither, who will return to his American literature classroom after briefly replacing Stacey Hill, who resigned in February after being arrested in a prostitution sting in Dalton, Ga. With the basketball team Watts succeeds Wes Moore, who left for a position at his alma mater, Chattanooga Christian.
"I've always believed the student comes first in student-athlete," noted Watts, who also coached varsity and JV boys' and girls' basketball at Westminster: "GPS has a long-standing tradition of providing its students with an educational experience in the classroom that is second to none, and our athletic department will reflect those same high standards."
That clearly was the goal of Graves, who wrote in a letter to the school's parents, "Jay understands that a school can have a competitive athletic program and not compromise on academics."
There was a time when Watts might have felt he was compromising his career dreams by returning to the Scenic City after earning a bachelor's degree from William and Mary and a master's degree in sports administration from Georgia State.
"When I graduated from McCallie, I don't know that I ever thought I'd live here as an adult," he said. "But you look at how the downtown has developed around the Aquarium, the Coolidge Park area, the Southside and it's become such a special place. I really look forward to being back in Chattanooga with my wife (Kristin) and daughter (3-year-old Colby)."
He's also looking forward to dropping by McCallie classmate Beau Tucker's Porker's BBQ on Market Street.
"I've taken my lacrosse team to Porker's when we've been in town," Watts said. "I'm definitely looking forward to a few more meals there."
Mostly, he's looking forward to a new challenge in a somewhat familiar venue.
"It feels like a homecoming for me," Watts said, "even if I didn't go to school there."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.