Here are some facts and figures about the 32 head coaches in tonight's semifinals, with their high school and college alma maters below.
*Two semifinal coaches are Brookwood alumni. Those are Philip Jones of Brookwood and John Ford of Buford.
*Six are coaching at their alma maters, including Rabun County's Lee Shaw and Brooks County's Maurice Freeman, whose teams face each other tonight. The others are Jones, Clinch County's Jim Dickerson, Tucker's Bryan Lamar and St. Pius' Paul Standard.
*Fifteen of the 32 coaches are not from Georgia. The longest away from home is Mary Persons' Brian Nelson, who is from West Burlington, Iowa, about a 13-hour drive to Thomaston. (See the other 14 below.)
*Three are in their first seasons as head coaches at their schools. They are Buford's Ford, North Gwinnett's Bill Stewart and Mount Zion's Brad Gordon. Twelve have been at their schools at least 10 seasons, headed by the 33-year tenure of Marist's Alan Chadwick.
*Four went to West Georgia: Calhoun's Hal Lamb, Heard County's Tim Barron, Mount Zion's Brad Gordon and Warner Robins' Mike Chastain. Two went to The Citadel. They are St. Pius' Standard and Eagle's Landing Christian's Jonathan Gess.
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