Photo by Julianna Leopold

CUMMING—Shawn Coury watches carefully to ensure the young athletes he sees competing for Pinecrest Academy never define their worth based on their ability to “hit a ball or jump high or run fast.”  

Success in sports is great. Coury would know. He coached the Paladins football team to championships in 2020 and 2024. He warns against misplaced identity.  

Instead, the 50-year-old educator wants the student-athletes “defined by the dignity that Christ gave.” 

“Sometimes when it doesn’t go the way they predicted, they didn’t get the scholarship they wanted or they didn’t get the playing time that they wanted, it crushes them because their identity was tied to the sport, not to the dignity that they have in Christ.” 

For him, success is wrapped up less in what the scoreboard shows than in the spiritual and personal lessons sports can teach. 

“When these kids leave us, what kind of fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, community leaders do they become?” he asked. “If one or two things sticks with them where they can build a habit, that can help them serve their family and their community better then hopefully we did what we were supposed to do.” 

That understanding earned Coury recognition by his peers at the Forsyth County school. During Catholic Schools Week, he was recognized as the educator of the year at Pinecrest Academy, one of the many celebrated in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He was named the 2024 Forsyth County Coach of the Year by the Forsyth County News. 

Coury grew up in the Alpharetta area and attended St. Thomas Aquinas Church as a youngster. He had considered becoming an architect or mechanical engineer, but a stint as a community coach helping hurdlers on a high school track team made him fall in love with guiding young people. He switched his college major to education. 

After starting his career in public school education, Coury transitioned to Catholic schools, driven by both professional goals and personal reasons. 

In 2007, he began working here, later moved to Holy Spirit Prep for a few years, and has been back at Pinecrest since 2020. He wanted his three children to grow up in a small Catholic school setting and Pinecrest Academy was just a few miles from home. His wife of nearly 23 years, Kelly, teaches at a nearby public school. The family attends Christ the Redeemer Church in Dawsonville. 

Today, he works as the school’s athletic director and head football coach. In addition, he can be found coaching track and swimming.  

The school has an inclusive philosophy of sports. Nearly 92 percent of students in middle and high school participate in 12 sports teams, where athletics are seen as one part of forming a young person.  

From his years of teaching, Coury said he’s learned educators always must focus on the young person to shape them, not produce results.  

“Most importantly remember to always teach students, not subjects, and coach players, not sports,” he said.