George Hopson, PhD

PhD, Educational Administration (Leadership) – Pensacola Christian College
MEd, Secondary Education – University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
BA, Social Sciences, minor in Physical Education – Covenant College

My experience in the Sport Profession includes coaching 30 years of high school soccer, 6 years of high school basketball, 5 years of sponsoring high school golf teams, 6 years of coaching high school baseball and coaching one or two years of girls softball, and track and field. I have directed summer sports camp in baseball, soccer (including 3 years of working with the Greenville YMCA summer camp (Camp Greenville) programs as soccer camp director and assistant camp director), and basketball.

I worked part-time for a few years in retail sales of sporting goods.

I have served as the Athletic Director of 4 Christian School programs in four different states. While in these positions I hired a number of coaches and provide in-service training for them in coaching technics, facility management, and interpersonal relations development.

My academic career includes teaching high school history, Bible, and Physical Education and Head of School in four different Christian schools. While in the administrative role I was involved in capital campaigns, annual fund campaigns, and booster club fund raising.

I have also referred youth, high school, and college athletics. My main experience is in soccer where I have referred high school soccer for over 35 years in five states (including a number of play-off games and two state tournament appearances) and referred college soccer for 5 years.

For 14 years I have served at North Greenville University in an administrative role and adjunct teaching in Leadership and Sport Management and beginning in the fall of 2021 I moved into full-time teaching in Sport Management and Leadership.

My contacts are mostly in Christian School athletics and in youth sport in and around Greenville County.

I grew up in suburban Philadelphia, PA. I attended a Christian day school where I played soccer, basketball, baseball, and track and field. My favorite sport was/is basketball. I received an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Covenant College (Lookout Mtn., GA). I also played soccer and lettered in both sports for 4 years each.

My goal in all this was to prepare for a teaching and coaching career in a Christian School. While in high school and college I worked with youth teams in both soccer and basketball, thus gaining coaching experience early in my career development.

After college I attend graduate school while I served as the Intramural Director and assistant soccer and basketball coach at Covenant College.

After graduate school I began teaching and coaching. During the summers I worked on and complete my doctoral degree and the Lord opened doors for me in school administration. While I did move a few times in this role I learned two very important lessons. The Lord always knows what is best for those willing to obey him and a variety of experiences provide a very good foundation for what comes next.

After 35 years in Christian Day school work (18 of those in the upstate of SC) the Lord open the door to Christian higher education. I came to NGU in 2007 as director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. In 2021-2022 transitioned into a full-time faculty position in Sport Management. The years of working in many areas of sport provided me a wealth of experiences and knowledge about how sport works at many different levels. I also gained knowledge and expertise in marketing/advertising and promotion of sporting events.