'It takes a village': How Oglethorpe County soccer director balances boys and girls programs

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but does the principle apply when there's 41 of them?

For Oglethorpe County soccer director Erich Forschler, the answer is a definitive yes.

"This is a unique situation where we have, we call it like a soccer director, and it's really one program that houses both the boys and the girls," Oglethorpe County co-athletic director Mike Holland said. "We got creative. ... Coach Forschler, he goes above and beyond. His knowledge of the game is the best we could get for either one, so we tried to get creative instead of pigeonholing him into one or the other, taking into account teaching positions and all that as well and having assistants who are just responsible for one or the other under him."

Forschler is the sole soccer coach for the Patriots boys and girls programs this season, as well as an English teacher at the high school.

His journey at Oglethorpe County started in 2018 when he was brought on as an unemployed assistant coach (or "lay coach" as it's known) to help the girls team make a run to the 2018 state title game. It was fortuitous, said the former US Military vet, the way things worked out for them that year.

He took a break and came back for the 2020 season, accepting a full-time teaching position in the special education department and the head coach title for the boys team. He's been with them since, conjuring a 25-39-4 record in five seasons. The first year was tough, he recalled, going 0-7 overall and having the season cut short by the COVID pandemic.

After the 2022 season, the girls soccer head coach stepped down. Fortunately for the programs, Forschler was there to step in.

"Short and sweet version is that there was a need," Forschler said. "There were people in positions of power that came to me and said it was clear they needed to make change on the girls side, but there's not a lot of people here that invest, or want to invest, as much time and energy into soccer as I do.

"I kind of looked at it and I was like, well, my two daughters are on the team and, for a lot of the time that I've been coaching high school, even the two years previous that they've been playing here, I still miss out on a whole lot, and it hit me as a dad that my kids are going to be gone soon. So, I said, let me do both."

And then the restructuring began. Forschler is the overall director and coach of the two teams, but underneath him, he has two certified teachers who are signed on as associate head coaches: Josh Austin and Holli Stouffer.

"I'll get the guys practice started and we'll stretch them out, get them loose and then run some passing drills and some short games while he's doing his thing with the girls," Austin said. "When he gets done with the girls practice, he comes over to the guys and we put everything together there and look at what his vision is (while Holly finishes the girls session up)."

It's all strategic and planned well in advance to allow for the three of them to keep the intensity up. Forschler tells his associates exactly what he wants them to do, no roundabouts, no ifs, ands or buts about it. There's never any need to improvise or stress on Austin and Stouffer's parts because Forschler's got it worked out ten steps in advance.

Forschler was able to get both programs a 2-seed and hosting privileges in the first round of the GHSA state playoffs this year. The girls came out with a 6-1 win over Commerce last Tuesday and will head to Paideia this Tuesday. The boys, however, fell 3-1 to Rabun County on Wednesday to wrap their season. Sure, it's less to juggle on Forschler's plate, but he's his toughest critic, Holland said. He wanted to have to go to Atlanta twice this week if it meant both teams were still in the running — he even drives the team buses, so he doesn't mind.

"He's a mastermind," Austin said. "I think his prior military experience has really, really shown through this year with getting a plan, putting his nose down and just going to work."

Sara Tidwell covers Athens-area high school sports and University of Georgia athletics for The Athens Banner-Herald. Contact her at stidwell@gannett.com and follow her @saramtidwell on Twitter.