November 7, 2025 — Pope Assistant Football Coach Jerry Mahon is not the kind of man who seeks the spotlight or craves attention. Yet, he is certainly the kind of man who deserves both. After 50 years of wearing headsets and roaming the sidelines in multiple sports, Coach Mahon recently announced his retirement from coaching and teaching.
“Coaching for 50 years at any level is extremely rare,” noted Pope High School Athletic Director Josh Mathews, “but when you combine the coaching role with full-time classroom teaching responsibilities, the group shrinks to only a select number of educators. Coach Mahon completing 50 years is truly uncommon and exceptional.”
A Fitting Finale
Coach Mahon spent the last decade at Pope, most recently as the Offensive Line Coach. While this year’s team had a difficult season in the win-loss column, the O-Line put together a fitting tribute for the retiring coach in their last game on the schedule, dominating the line of scrimmage for 385 yards rushing in a 35-14 victory.
Pope senior Preston Cort was part of that offensive line unit and has played under the tutelage of Coach Mahon over the last four years. Preston reflected on the impact that the coach has had on him.
“What I will always remember about Coach Mahon's coaching,” the offensive guard said, “is the stories and life lessons he would tell the o-linemen as we were doing our drills.”
Pope Head Football Coach Sean O’Sullivan also spoke about the impact of his offensive assistant.
“His countless hours of hard work and commitment have made Pope Football a better program,” O’Sullivan declared. “It has been a true pleasure having such a veteran coach on staff. We appreciate all his support and the positive impact he’s had on our team and community.”
Born to Coach
While Coach Mahon’s significance has been felt in many ways in and around the community—as a mentor to younger coaches, a church mission trip leader, and an educator in the classroom, to name a few— there’s no question that much of his influence comes back to the fact that he was born to coach.
“I was in the eighth grade, and I knew I wanted to be a coach,” Mahon said in reflection. “I’m sure playing on undefeated teams and with great players helped that.”
Affected by his experience as an athlete himself, a coach he became. He began his high school football coaching career in 1976. His first 21 years were spent guiding student-athletes in Mississippi and Alabama, spanning four schools, and then he moved to Georgia in 1997. Over the course of his five decades as an educator and coach, more than half of his tenure has been spent in Cobb Schools. He served four years as an assistant on the Lassiter High School football staff before he became the head coach of the Trojans for three seasons. In 2005, Coach Mahon joined the Wheeler High School football program as an assistant and spent 11 years coaching the Wildcats before moving on to Pope for his final ten years.
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His half-century career in education included teaching science, fitness, and other topics in the classroom, as well as coaching several sports in addition to football—baseball, basketball, wrestling, track, and soccer among them.
“I couldn’t have done this without my wife,” the lifetime coach said, when speaking of his wife, Olivia, whom he married in that first year of coaching, making 2025 the 50th wedding anniversary for the Mahons as well. “She’s the real anchor. And my boys, David and Jerry, Jr., were supportive. You’ve got to have a strong support group to last this long, and I certainly had it.”
More Than Wins and Losses
This kind of longevity also requires some knowledge and skill. He coached a girls soccer team to three straight state championships during his time in Alabama.
“I had some good players,” Coach Mahon said, deflecting any credit.
Brigid Meadow was a leader on those state championship teams, and Coach Mahon calls her one of the best athletes he ever coached. She believes that he played a larger role in those soccer titles than he lets on.
“We did have a great team, but he was also a great leader,” said Meadow, who has been a coach herself. “I think his biggest impact was the fact that he had no ego. He was willing to learn, and he listened to what we had to say, and that made us respect him even more. If we'd have had someone that was not as positive and encouraging, not as willing to let us be creative on the field, I don't think it would have gone the same way.”
In 50 years, a coach will have the opportunity to pour into many great players. One, in particular, stands out for the longtime coach.
“I got to coach my son, Jerry, Jr., at Lassiter High School,” Coach Mahon said proudly, when recalling a favorite memory of his time as a coach in Cobb Schools. “He played center from 1997 to 1999, and he’s one of the best centers I ever coached, so the opportunity to coach my son was a real thrill.”
There’s a certain poetry in the fact that Coach Mahon’s fondest memories come from coaching his own son—a reminder that his impact has always been deeply personal, even as his legacy stretches far beyond family.
“Coach Mahon’s legacy in coaching,” Pope AD Mathews said in admiration, “will be left with the thousands of players and hundreds of coaches who have encountered his professional, faith-based approach to teaching life lessons. I have witnessed a coach who cares for the heart of the athlete significantly more than he cared about the result of a game or match.”
Coach Mahon also achieved excellent results at times in his career. He enjoyed playoff football with all three Cobb Schools at which he coached.
“I was fortunate to serve on staffs with quality coaches,” he said, refusing to take any personal credit. “I’ve had my share of losses, but making the football playoffs multiple times was fun.”
When asked how he would like to be remembered, Coach Mahon recited a poem that his father had shared with him many years ago. It is an adapted rhyme believed to be inspired by the fourth-century Christian priest St. Jerome.
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best,” the retiring coach quoted before offering his explanation. “The key to all that right there is to never let it rest. You’ve got to keep working. Being average is halfway from the top, but also halfway from the bottom. You’ve got to be willing to put in the work. Hopefully, that is what I have passed on to my players and students.”
For 50 years, Coach Mahon has done just that—put in the work. He has been very good at coaching many sports and educating teenagers. He has gotten better throughout the years, too. And he will retire as one of the best, thanks to the impact he has made on young men and women on athletic fields and in the classroom.
h/t photos courtesy Mark Ye, Pope High School, and the Mahon family
