VALDOSTA — The Rick Darlington era has come to an end at Valdosta High.

Darlington, the third-year Valdosta football coach, has submitted his letter of resignation to Valdosta City Schools superintendent Sam Allen, stepping down as football coach.

“After discussing the situation with Mr. Allen, we are in agreement that I would submit (a) letter of resignation,” Darlington said.

Darlington met with the Valdosta players Monday after school and gave them the news of his resignation first. The resignation had long been rumored, so it wasn’t a total surprise. But there was still plenty of sadness from the players.

Darlington says he is walking away from the job with no hard feelings toward the school.

“When I was chosen to coach the Valdosta Wildcats, I was honored beyond words. I am thankful for the opportunity to have done so,” Darlington said.

Darlington also said he believes he tried to run his program the right wa, and was very proud of the players that played for him the past three years.

“Although things did not work out like we had hoped on the playing field, I am very proud of our young men and our coaches for their perseverance through adversity, unwavering belief in each other, and the gentlemanly manner in which they have conducted themselves,” Darlington said. “Our young men have represented Valdosta with pride, and maintained their good name.”

Darlington will continue to teach English classes at the school for the remainder of the year, or until he is released from those teaching duties so he can move on to his next coaching job.

Darlington and principal Brett Stanton both declined to discuss specifics about why the coach chose to resign, but the split had long been rumored. Those rumors only intensified as the season went on, particularly after losses to archrival Lowndes and underdog Coffee.

“An era in Valdosta football has come to an end. I think Rick’s record speaks for itself,” Stanton said. “We wish Rick nothing but the best in the future.”

After Friday’s game, a 16-7 loss to No. 1 Camden County in the second round of the Class AAAAA playoffs, coach Jeff Herron walked up to Darlington, hugged him, and wished him luck.

A search committee will be formed soon to help find the next Wildcat head coach. The search has not begun yet, but applications are expected to start filing in soon.

“We are going to go and try to find the best football coach for Valdosta High School that we can,” Stanton said. “It’s going to be a very time-consuming and tedious process. There’s a lot of things that go into hiring a football coach, especially at a storied program like we have here at Valdosta. Obviously the standards here are very high, and we want to find the right coach for this job. And I believe that we will.”

Stanton says a tentative timetable has been set, but that the school will take as long as it needs to find its next football coach.

“We don’t want to drag it out, but we will take the time we need to find the right man,” the principal said.

Darlington had, by most schools’ standards, a successful run at Valdosta, going 26-14 (a .650 winning percentage) with a Region 1-AAAAA title and a state runner-up finish in 2003. But he was coaching Valdosta, the program that has won more football games than any other (828 wins since 1913), and the standards at VHS are as high as maybe any place in the country.

Darlington’s three years at Valdosta were an interesting ride, full of highs and lows.

In 2003, his first season at VHS, the Wildcats started 1-3, but rebounded with 11 straight victories, including a 28-26 upset of archrival Lowndes and a 21-6 victory over Macon Westside in the state semifinals. The run took them all the way to the state title game, before the Wildcats fell 21-7 to nationally-ranked Camden in the championship game, the final game at old Cleveland Field. For his efforts, Darlington was named the Class AAAAA State Coach of the Year, an honor usually reserved for the championship-winning coach.

In 2004, Valdosta faced a rebuilding year, after graduating 36 seniors, and went 8-5, but still made it to the state quarterfinals. Had two fluke plays not turned into touchdowns for Walton in the quarterfinals (a 17-14 loss), Valdosta probably would have made its second straight trip to the semifinals.

This year, Valdosta went 7-5. But two of those losses were to the past two AAAAA state champions — Lowndes beat them 28-0 and Camden beat them 16-7 last Friday — and the other three were by a combined five points. With a break or two in those three tight losses, the team could have been 10-2. For the second straight season, Valdosta finished second in Region 1-AAAAA, behind Lowndes.

Ironically, Darlington’s final game was a second-round playoff loss at Camden County, just like predecessor Mike O’Brien in 2002. Darlington’s final season also contained some other similarities to O’Brien’s last year — a close loss to Madison County, a blown two-touchdown lead to Tallahassee Lincoln, a shocking upset loss to Coffee (Coffee’s only two wins ever against Valdosta), and a talented team that wound up having to face a tough Camden squad in the second round.