High school football coaches like to analyze statistics, but even they can't fully explain these.

When practice begins Friday for the 2008 season, there will be a record 95 new head coaches in Georgia — 29 more than a year ago — with a turnover rate of 25 percent. Those numbers even blow away the rates in the NFL (17 percent) and college football (15 percent).

"Wow," said Michael Collins, who moved from Pebblebrook to Chamblee this year. "That's unbelievable. [There is] a lot of pressure these days. It's a 365-day job, and they expect you to produce. If you don't, these people are making changes."

Some coaches retired, some were fired, and others just found better jobs, including Collins, who wanted to be closer to family in DeKalb County. But coaches agree that winning is more important than ever, and that trend is more pronounced in metro Atlanta than the rest of the state, especially among larger schools.

There are 26 new coaches in Class AAAAA (schools with at least 1,850 students) compared to only 10 in Class A (525 or fewer students).

And while metro Atlanta accounts for less than one-third of Georgia's high schools, 46 of the 95 job changes occurred here. The turnover rate among metro schools was 41 percent, with Clayton (75 percent) and Cobb (56 percent) leading the way. Seven Cobb schools made their third change in six seasons.

"Ridiculous expectations," said retiring Harrison High coach Bruce Cobleigh, who missed the playoffs only three times in his 17 seasons. "Coaches have to win, get everybody a scholarship, raise money and keep those kids happy when outside people are telling them this ain't good and that ain't good. This didn't happen 20 years ago. People gave you time to build it."

Of the 95 schools that made changes, 56 finished with 4-6 records or worse in 2007. And most of the teams with winning records that made changes had no choice — their former coach retired or was hired away.

"A lot of times, communities and administrators or boosters, they all say they're excited about building character and discipline and helping their kids grow up, but the bottom line is a lot of them really just want to win," said new South Forsyth coach Wendell Early, who was 6-4 at Berkmar last season. "There are so many demands and unrealistic expectations, and everyone always thinks the fix is to get a new coach."

But Early also said it's not just schools looking for something better. Coaches want the same.

Early improved Berkmar's program in five seasons, but he never won a playoff game. The trend of star players transferring exacerbated things, said Early, who lost players to Parkview, Peachtree Ridge and Norcross.

"It's very hard to build a program when your better players are leaving all the time," said Early, who left Berkmar on good terms. "It's part of the same thing. Everyone wants a bigger, better deal. ... Coaches are out there looking, too."

North Clayton's new coach, Rodney Hackney, is at his fifth school in six seasons. He has been at Riverdale, Osborne, Mays and Lithonia.

"I've been called the gypsy coach," Hackney said, "but I have a family, and I have to do what's best for me, and you have to look at what teams give you the best chance to be competitive. Lithonia didn't have the best athletes. Mays did, but the pressure to win was more than I was willing to accept at that time. North Clayton is the right fit. I hope to be here for a long time."

Almost half of the turnover rate can be explained by the domino effect. Twenty-five new coaches left one head coaching job for another in Georgia. At least six others got jobs out of state.

About 10 prominent longtime coaches retired, although only one — Fellowship Christian's Bob Lord at age 78 — was retirement age. McEachern's Jim Dorsey and East Coweta's Danny Cronic, both 200-game winners, had been head coaches for more than 25 years.

But the rest cited what have become typical factors for leaving, including the increasing job responsibilities, conflicts with administration or the desire to have more time with family and friends.

Cobleigh didn't want to miss any of his son's soccer games at Furman University this fall.

Scott Wilkins, who was 9-2 at Cedar Shoals last season, wanted to escape the 80-hour work weeks and got a job coaching Athens Academy's middle school team.

Dan Ragle says disagreements with a new principal and superintendent at Ware County prompted his early retirement despite having a team that made the Class AAAA championship game last season. He'll take this year to decide if he'll make a comeback or leave the profession and move to the mountains.

John Coen, Roswell's interim coach until Leo Barker was hired to replace the retiring Tim McFarlin, said McFarlin changed his cellphone number after frequently finding his voicemail full of messages from scouts and college coaches. McFarlin spent hours each night fielding their questions.

"There's a lot to being a head coach that has nothing to do with actually coaching football," Coen said. "You spend a lot of time nowadays coaching coaches, not just players. You've got to be a big-picture guy, the face of the program."

Bill Shackelford, in his second year at Sprayberry, said high school coaches now work the hours of college coaches with the same pressures to win. But they also must teach classes and aren't paid as much.

"The problem is that we have to be fundraisers and disciplinarians and run the weight room and be fundraisers and coach and be fundraisers," Shackelford said. "It becomes a real grind."

The pay for high school coaches varies greatly. Those at smaller schools make only a little more than the average Georgia teacher, or about $50,000. Finding coaches for those schools isn't easy.

Some schools, including Mitchell County and Hancock Central in rural Georgia, hired coaches only in the past few weeks. Winless Cross Keys in DeKalb County considered canceling its season until Anwar Heard stepped up as an interim coach this summer.

But prime job openings in the state can draw more than 200 applicants, and the state's top coaches can make $80,000 to $100,000 at bigger schools with thriving booster clubs that supplement salaries.

"That was my dream from the beginning, being a head coach," said Kyle Hockman, who beat out more than 240 applicants to replace Dorsey at McEachern. "Most of my assistants want to be head coaches. It's still an attractive job. Everybody wants their shot."

Larry Hartstein, Chris Whitfield, Michael Alpert, Derrick Mahone and Jay Stone contributed to this article.