Amid construction of a new high school, the program’s past year has been one of change, with several teams being forced to play their home games elsewhere. Ahead of the unveiling of a new FHS stadium, the department will also have a new leader this fall.
“It's kind of been something that I've been interested in for a long time,” said new Athletic Director Ryan Raby, a longtime FHS employee and current men’s golf head coach. “When I first started working at [Macon Middle School], I was the athletic director there for I think a year and a half or so until I came over to the high school. I guess the older I've gotten, the more I’ve gravitated to and had a mind more towards administrative stuff.”
After graduating from Franklin as a multi-sport star in 1996, Raby committed to play baseball at Brevard College, helping the Tornadoes finish third in the national Junior College World Series in 1998. From there he returned home, where he’s served in various roles for MMS and FHS ever since. Having served as assistant athletic director under Matt Bradley for the past year, Raby doesn’t want to rock the boat.
“I think Matt did a good job. You never really understand the full capacity that somebody's serving until you're actually in that role,” he said of Bradley, who will officially step down July 31. “When I came aboard last year as an assistant athletic director, I really got to see what all he did behind the scenes that nobody really knows about. I don't think there's anything that needs to be overhauled or anything like that, but one thing I want to try to do and emphasize is make sure I communicate well with everybody.”
Between hiring coaches; overseeing budgets; coordinating equipment, facilities, schedules and contest officials; maintaining compliance with state rules; and serving as the administrator on site for Franklin’s home games; the job of an athletic director has many facets. Just weeks away from the planned unveiling of the new stadium, Raby will need to hit the ground running.
“At this point in time with the transition period and new facilities, it's going to require new procedures on our part, and there's going to be some adjustment period there,” he said. “I'm sure we'll do some things we won't like and change them; I'm sure we won't do some things that we should have done and then change those. So it’s going to be a learning experience for everyone involved, but I think from an operational standpoint we've got to have a good solid game plan together.”
After a year of construction, the new Panther Pit has rapidly been taking shape, with the playing surface, bleachers, press box and auxiliary buildings in place. With a few finishing touches left to add, the project should remain on schedule.
“With any construction project, there are going to be things that you catch and need to adjust during the process. So it's a typical construction project – there’ve been some things we've had to work on,” Raby said. “But for the most part, I think Carroll Daniel has done a great job in building the school for us to this point. … This whole past year that I've been involved, they’ve kept using the term ‘contractually obligated,’ so they are contractually obligated to have that thing turned over to us by the first of August. I haven't heard of any changes otherwise, but we're two, three weeks away from the first scrimmage, whatever it is – it'll be on us quick.”
“Coming in off Phillips Street on the east end of the field, they still have to lay a paved road that accesses the field house and the visitor’s side of the stadium,” he continued. “They still have to do the rubberizing [of the running track], and I haven't been through the buildings lately, but I think they're fairly close to being complete in there as well.”
With a home football scrimmage with A.C. Reynolds slated Aug. 7, the stadium is less than a month away from its first live action. Having temporarily moved their weight room equipment to MMS, Panther football will also need to haul it back to the high school.
“Yeah, that’s the fun part,” Raby joked. “The plan on that is there's supposed to be a temporary weight room in the big storage area that's in the field house. We’ll try to make that suffice for the boys' part of weightlifting; the girls and Coach Plemmons’ basketball team I think will continue to use the smaller weight room there in the [current] gym.”
After unveiling the new Panther Pit next month, the department will then prepare to move to a new basketball court, inside the main school building scheduled for completion next fall. Despite the extraordinary workload both transitions will create, Raby is more than happy to bear the burden.
"I guess I would say just the overall sense of pride that I've always had in Franklin High School athletics,” said Raby of his feelings on taking the helm. “Coming from being in high school, participating in four sports, going off to college and playing, and starting coaching immediately, it's pretty much made up my life being in Franklin High School athletics. There's obviously a tremendous amount of pride that goes along with that, and so I just want to be able to step in there, continue that and make sure the coaches get the full support that they need from me so they can do their job the best they can.”
July 15, 2026
