Getting a chance to not only teach with your son but to also coach with your son makes this Father’s Day a bit more special for Rome High special education teacher and football coach Chris MacFarland. Not to mention, his son, Garret MacFarland, is a new dad to boot, meaning Chris gets to celebrate Father’s Day as dad and a granddad.
“I always tell parents when they first have kids that when the first Mother's Day or first Father's Day shows up, they're joining the greatest fraternity or sorority in the world,” Chris says. “There's nothing better than being a father or mother. It's pretty cool, and now being a grandfather too is even better.”
The MacFarland's journey to Rome started several years ago. Chris was coaching football in Ohio, but his middle daughter was playing volleyball at Middle Georgia College, meaning the commute to see her play was a bit grinding.
“I was in Ohio as the head coach and was moving on from there. I started looking at schools in Georgia because my middle daughter was in college at Middle Georgia,” Chris says. “I started looking at some schools and contacted Coach (John) Reid. I just started building a relationship with him. He brought us down here. They interviewed my wife (Christina) and I, and the rest is history.”
Not having to make the long commute to see their middle daughter play volleyball was a big reason for the move, but the MacFarlands had also enjoyed living in the South.
“We were looking at places to be close enough to see my daughter play volleyball. It was nice not having to do the 11 to 12-hour drive from Ohio. We also used to live in South Carolina, and we loved the South,” he says. “We wanted to just get back in the South. Getting a chance to get with Coach Reid and him bring me on was really special.”
Garret had just finished college, where he played football at Slippery Rock, and was still trying to figure out life after college.
“I had just graduated from college when they decided to move. So I had nowhere to go. I didn't have a job yet. I thought I was going to do something with public health. I came down and got started in college coaching. I ended up at Berry for two years,” he says. “I wanted to find a real job after my three years of being a graduate assistant. Coach Reid and my dad had a talk about it. I thought, "Let's just give teaching a shot because I've been in a teaching family my whole life.”
The family teaching legacy at first was probably a reason why Garret didn’t want to teach, but as avenues opened up, things changed.
“I think many times in his earlier childhood, he talked about how he was never going to ever teach because obviously both his mom and his dad were teachers. My brother taught. My mom taught. My dad taught, so he's been around it,” Chris says. “To see him come into the field and to see him enjoy it. He's not coming into it just because he has to do this. He does it because he loves his job, and he does a great job with these young men in the classroom. It’s just great to see him grow into his role.”
Both father and son are special education teachers at Rome High School, while his mom teaches Computer Science at Rome Middle School. Garret says he wasn’t prepared for how much he was going to enjoy his job.
“My favorite part is working with the kids. I got into special education not knowing how much I would like it. I thought I just wanted to be a PE teacher like a lot of other coaches. I love helping kids and seeing their struggles and helping them grow through them,” he says. “It goes right into the field too. We have kids that have a lot going on at home, and we need to deal with that. It's not just as simple as they show up the next day and everything's fine. We help them through their problems and do a lot of extra parenting, but you're not their parent. That part has been a really cool part that I didn't know how much I would like.”
A big benefit of having his dad and mom in the same school district was being able to lean on them for questions and extra support when he started.
“When I first got into it, I still wasn't sure how I felt about it. I was hesitant even on the coaching field. To be able to have someone that I could talk to outside of school and at school when I need something is probably the only reason I've made it through this and found the love for it,” Garret says. “Early on, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it. Just having people to talk me through how to do my grades, how to keep up with my paperwork, how to do all that stuff. I don't know how else I would have done it.”
The MacFarlands are also both assistant football coaches with Chris coaching linebackers and Garret coaching the defensive line. It’s special for Chris, who had the chance to coach Garret in high school and now gets to see his son as a coach.
“I got a chance to coach Garret when I was a head coach in Ohio. He played for us and did an outstanding job. It was a different dynamic then with me being in charge and him having to deal with playing for his dad,” Chris says. “I tell all of my buddies and people back up North how neat it is to work with him. I get to see his growth and how he's changed from a player to a coach. He's getting better each year.”
Teaching and coaching at Rome is also a family affair for the MacFarlands. Chris, Christina, and Garret are all teachers. Their youngest daughter and Chris’ sister, Hunter, graduated from Rome High in 2024.
“To me, there's nothing better than on a Friday night looking down after a victory and just seeing him on the sidelines and getting to share that with him,” Chris says. “Then my wife and my daughters come down on the field and just all of us being a part of that, to me it's everything.”
The family atmosphere, beyond just his personal family, plays into one of the many reasons Chris loves Rome City Schools.
“My youngest daughter graduated from here. I just like the family atmosphere. It’s also the football family and the teaching family. It's a great place to be football-wise. Academically, we're pushing the kids and we're hopefully moving them all in the right direction,” he says. “It's just a great place to work with good athletes and good students. We’re giving them a chance to move on after high school. They’re not always going on to play college football, but we’re getting them ready for life after football too. To me, football has always been a huge outlet for education. I love the classroom.”
Garret says the chance to spend time with his dad is something that he truly enjoys.
“It's something that I never thought that I would go through again. When you're in high school with that dynamic, you're sitting there thinking I can't wait to be at school with my parents, not over my shoulder all the time. When I get to experience it now, it's a lot more fulfilling than I thought it would be because we're equals now,” Chris says. “And when I go to his house, we might not still be equals, but here we're equals. We work together, and we bounce ideas off of each other.”
When asked how proud he is of his son, Chris breaks into a big smile.
“It's a cool Father's Day present for me just to have him in the building. We still get on each other. I'm still his dad and there's still father-son things, but I get to see him every day in the hallway,” he says. “I'm proud. I love working with him, so I hope I do it for a long time.”
And while Father’s Day has been special for Chris for several years, Garret breaks into his own smile when he talks about what this year’s Father’s Day means to him.
“This is the first Father's Day that I get to enjoy as a dad. I'm a brand-new father with a five-month-old at home. Getting to have my first Father's Day while still working with my father is something that I didn't think I would ever get to enjoy,” he says.