Georgia football coach, cheerleading coach wife charged with theft – USA TODAY High School Sports

Wayne County (Ga.) football coach Jody Grooms and his wife, cheerleading coach Sharon Grooms, have been charged with theft. (Wayne County Sheriff’s Office)

Recently departed Wayne County (Jesup, Ga.) football coach Jody Grooms was arrested with his wife for allegedly stealing from fundraisers, according to multiplereports out of Georgia.

Grooms allegedly stole from a fundraiser in which he was involved, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Likewise, his wife, Wayne County cheerleading coach Sharon Grooms, faces three counts of stealing from her team’s fundraising efforts, according to reports.

Jody Grooms took over football coaching duties in February 2010 and led Wayne County to the 2013 Class AAAA state semifinals. He resigned last week with a 30-21-2 in six seasons as head coach, according to the Coastal Courier. He also served as the school’s athletic director.

Prior to arriving at Wayne County, Grooms coached at Lakeside-Evans (Ga.), where he was stripped of his athletic director duties and suspended for two games after allegedly directing a player on the sidelines to enter the 2007 regular-season finale against rival Effingham County (Springfield, Ga.) and catch a pass on a play he was not a part of, according to the Savannah Morning News. (For the record, the pass was intercepted and never reached the illegal player.)

“It was a cheating play,” Effingham County athletic director Tim Hood told the paper in 2010. “Everybody makes mistakes, obviously. Maybe he didn’t consider the ramifications of running a play like that, but hopefully he wouldn’t do it again.”

Now, Grooms and his wife face far more serious charges at their latest stop.