Number of hires: 5
Best hire: Jim Bob Bryant, North Paulding
Hardest to replace: Nick Bach, Mountain View
Best job: Mountain View
Toughest job: Berkmar
Most interesting: Jim Bob Bryant, who sports a 167-42 career record with three state championships in North Carolina, is the latest coach to arrive in Georgia with state titles on his resume. Others that come to mind are Rush Propst at Colquitt County, John Reid at Rome and Richard Morgan at Marietta. Or going back further, Randy McPherson at Lowndes and Robby Pruitt at Coffee. GHSF Daily will chronicle the offseason hires in the next seven issues, starting today with AAAAAAA.
Region 1
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Region 2
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Region 3
*Kennesaw Mountain promoted quarterbacks coach Caleb Carmean, an alumnus, to replace Andy Scott, whose teams were 45-71 at a Cobb County school that has not made the playoffs since its opening in 2000. Carmean is a former Kennesaw Mountain and Shorter University quarterback. He had been the offensive coordinator at Johnson of Gainesville before returning to his alma mater last season. Scott is now the defensive coordinator at Hiram.
*North Paulding hired Jim Bob Bryant, who won three state titles as a head coach in North Carolina, to replace Scott Jones, who retired. Bryant's career record in his native state was 167-42. He won state championships at Havelock High in 2011, 2012 and 2013. This past season, Bryant coached at Freedom High in Morganton, N.C., and finished 7-5. Jones was 41-18 at North Paulding, including an 8-3 mark last season. His career record was 110-102.
Region 4
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Region 5
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Region 6
*Mountain View promoted offensive coordinator Rob Kellogg to replace Nick Bach, who took the head coaching job at the Gilman School in Maryland. Kellogg was a head coach for 15 seasons in the Georgia Independent School Association, where he compiled a 77-73 record and won region titles at Thomas Jefferson Academy, Flint River Academy and Fullington Academy in central Georgia. Kellogg joined Mountain View's staff with Bach in 2015. Bach's teams were 19-11 in three seasons, 9-3 last season.
Region 7
*Berkmar promoted defensive coordinator Willie Gary to resurrect a program on a 47-game losing streak. Gary is a former star player at Valdosta and the University of Kentucky. He played eight seasons professionally, one in the NFL. Gary has been a defensive coordinator for the Georgia Force Arena League team and Clark Atlanta University. Gary spent the past three seasons on the Berkmar staff of Kenan Dever, who is now an assistant at Discovery.
*Lakeside (Atlanta) has promoted defensive coordinator Zack Edwards to replace Cam Jones, who is now Grayson’s wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
Region 8
*Rockdale County promoted defensive coordinator Jamie Baldwin to replace Greg Manior, whose teams were 2-17 the past two seasons. Baldwin has been on Rockdale's staff the past two seasons and worked at Cedar Shoals just prior. He was head coach at Johnson of Savannah from 2009 to 2012. His 2012 team remains the only one to win a playoff game in Johnson's 50-year history. Manior is now a coordinator and assistant principal at Effingham County.
Coming Thursday: Class AAAAAA
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