A coach who has dedicated her career to Carrollton High School athletics and pouring into student-athletes has decided to retire as head softball coach.

Lisa Phillips has coached the varsity softball team at CHS for 16 years, but she began her coaching career more than three decades ago. 

A native of Temple, Ga., Phillips moved to Carrollton when she attended the University of West Georgia where she played intercollegiate basketball and softball.

Her passion for softball began when she was 10 years old.

“I was a pitcher and catcher for my hometown’s baseball team because we didn’t have recreational softball,” she said. “I also played softball with my mom on her women’s league team.  I was hooked and finally found a youth softball league in Paulding County to play for.  In 1981, my freshman year at Temple High School, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) started slow pitch softball as a fall sport for high school girls.”

Phillips’ coaching career began at Villa Rica High School where she led the varsity basketball team and served as an assistant softball coach for four years before heading to Bremen, where was the head coach of both the girls basketball team and softball. In 1996 she captured the pinnacle moment in her career when the softball team completed a 30-0 undefeated season to bring home a state title.

Phillips took over the softball program at CHS in 2006 and remembers when she was approached about the job.

 “I was watching my oldest son play for the Trojans one night when Rayvan Teague came to sit next to me. Coach Teague was the head football coach for CHS at that time. He asked if I would be interested in talking to him about being the softball coach and the rest is history.”

When Phillips began coaching at Carrollton, it was her mission to rebuild the softball program. 

“My first year, we only won five regular season games, but got better each week. In the region tournament, we were able to win two games to punch our ticket into the state tournament as the four seed. We went 1-2 in the sectional tournament to finish with a record of 8-24, but the work and dedication of that team truly changed the trajectory of Trojan softball.”

 In 2011, Carrollton softball won its first ever region championship.  Since then, the team has won five more under Phillips’ leadership.

Although she didn’t graduate from CHS, Phillips married into a family of Trojans whose love for the school is deep. Phillips’ father-in-law graduated from CHS in 1949.

“We are a Trojan family,” she said. “I watched my nephew play football in the 1990s under Coach Ben Scott. It was loud and exciting! When my son started playing as a Trojan, I saw the excellence first hand. Every player was really good. He played against great competition, and really learned to compete. That is the same way I tried coaching our players the last 16 seasons. I pushed them to excel and compete. It takes tenacity, grit, guts, and heart to do it. That’s what being a Trojan is — it’s excellence.”

CHS Athletic Director Paul Fitz-Simons said he is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Phillips and happy for her next chapter.

 “Coach Phillips is a person who makes everyone around her better,” he said. “She has touched many lives — mine included. I am excited for this next phase of life for her and for her to have the chance to spend more time with family.”

Phillips said she is not only looking forward to spending more time with her husband, Terry Jay, children, and granddaughter, but she is also excited to assist with the softball program at Carrollton Junior High School.

“I am not stepping away from the game completely,” she said.  “Although I will no longer lead the varsity program, I am going to help our younger students learn and improve foundational softball skills. I also plan to spend more time with my family and to support my kids as they pursue and chase their dreams."

Looking back on her coaching career, Phillips said it has been much more than a job for her. She said she believes it was her calling.

“Being a teacher and coach has been my life. I have always coached hard and expected a lot from my players to show them the potential that they couldn’t see in themselves. The first 13 years I coached were more about winning on the field but in 2003, my heart was transformed through my faith and that changed the relationships with my players in a deeper, more personal way. The success on the field continued, but many hearts were transformed along the way. Those were by far the biggest wins of my career!”