Etowah announced Friday the hiring of football coach Matt Kemper, who held the same position at Roswell the past three seasons.
Kemper will replace Dave Svehla, who left after eight seasons to become head coach at West Forsyth.
Kemper’s Roswell teams were 20-13. They won region titles in Region 4-AAAAAAA titles in 2018 and 2019. Etowah was 49-41 under Svehla but had slumped in recent seasons with four straight losing seasons, although each ended in a playoff berth.
The Roswell job now becomes the most prominent among metro Atlanta job openings. Roswell has won region titles four of the past five seasons and was a state runner-up in 2015 and 2016 under John Ford.
Roswell of Fulton County, Etowah of Cherokee County and West Forsyth of Forsyth County are all Class AAAAAAA schools across metro Atlanta’s northern crescent.
Here are a few more recent coaching changes:
*Forest Park has hired Meadowcreek offensive coordinator Rex Robertson, an alumnus, to replace Gerren Griffin. Robertson was the offensive coordinator for Griffin’s 2016 team that averaged 43.4 points with quarterback Tylan Morton, who set a state record with 4,741 yards passing in a season. Forest Park has not had a winning season since 2000.
*North Paulding has hired Don Stark, head coach at Seminole High in Sanford, Fla. to replace Jim Bob Bryent, who is now head coach at North Augusta in South Carolina. Start’s record in four seasons at Seminole was 40-6. His overall coaching record is 68-40. North Paulding had the playoffs with records of 7-4 and 6-5 under Bryant.
*Calhoun running back coach Brad Smith is Loganville’s new coach. A Loganville alumnus, Smith replaces Mike Humphreys. Loganville was 3-8 last season.
*Stan Luttrell has left Johnson of Gainesville to take the Hebron Christian job, formerly filled by former NFL player Jeff Saturday. Hebron had a breakout finish in 2019, going 8-5. Luttrell was 4-6 in one season at Johnson. He also has been a head coach at Chestatee and Union County.
There have been 64 reported job changes among GHSA schools this off-season. Fifteen remain open.
Alpharetta - Former coach: Jacob Nichols. New coach: Jason Kervin
Baconton Charter - Former coach: Parker Rentz. New coach: Open
Beach - Former coach: Ulysses Hawthorne. New coach: Open
Bryan County – Former coach: Scott Abram. New coach: Open
Cass - Former coach: Bobby Hughes. New coach: Open
Cedartown - Former coach: Doyle Kelley. New coach: Jamie Abrams
Centennial - Former coach: Shane Sams. New coach: Open
Central Gwinnett - Former coach: Todd Wofford. New coach: Jason Thompson
Chattahoochee County - Former coach: Jody Allen. New coach: Pierre Coffey
Chattooga - Former coach: Charles Hammon. New coach: Shawn Peek
Coahulla Creek - Former coach: Caleb Bagley. New coach: Danny Wilson
Coosa - Former coach: Todd Wheeler. New coach: Joey Mathis
Dade County - Former coach: Dale Pruitt. New coach: Jeff Poston
Decatur - Former coach: Cody Cory. New coach: William Felton
Deerfield-Windsor - Former coach: Allen Lowe. New coach: Jake McCrae
Denmark - Former coach: Terry Crowder. New coach: Mike Palmieri
Dooly County - Former coach: Ashley Harden. New coach: Phillip Hale
Druid Hills - Former coach: Rosaria Rice. New coach: Open
Etowah - Former coach: Dave Svehla. New coach: Matt Kemper
Forest Park - Former coach: Gerren Griffin. New coach: Rex Robertson
Hebron Christian - Former coach: Jeff Saturday. New coach: Stan Luttrell
Hillgrove - Former coach: Phillip Ironside. New coach: Byron Slack
Irwin County - Former coach: Buddy Nobles. New coach: Casey Soliday
Islands - Former coach: Robert Zoller. New coach: Deshawn Printup
Jenkins - Former coach: Jason Cameron. New coach: Open
Johnson (Gainesville) - Former coach: Stan Luttrell. New coach: Open
King's Ridge Christian - Former coach: Jeff Pickren. New coach: Terry Crowder
KIPP Atlanta - Former coach: James Briscoe. New coach: Coy Brown
LaGrange - Former coach: Chuck Gibbs. New coach: Matt Napier
Lakeview Academy - Former coach: Mattew Gruhn. New coach: Lee Shaw
Lambert - Former coach: Louis Daniel. New coach: Tommy Watson
Lincoln County - Former coach: Michael Pollock. New coach: Lee Chomskis
Loganville - Former coach: Mike Humphreys. New coach: Brad Smith
Loganville Christian - Former coach: Patrick Stewart. New coach: Adam Miller
Lowndes - Former coach: Randy McPherson. New coach: Jamie Dubose
Luella - Former coach: Jason Jackson. New coach: Craig Coleman
Manchester - Former coach: Evan Hochstetler. New coach: James Moore
Mount Zion (Jonesboro) - Former coach: Kevin Jones. New coach: Open
North Paulding - Former coach: Jim Bryant. New coach: Don Stark
Northside (Columbus) - Former coach: Dave Nurnberg. New coach: Andrew Oropeza
Northside (Warner Robins) - Former coach: Kevin Kinsler. New coach: Chad Alligood
Pataula Charter - Former coach: Richard Andrews. New coach: Open
Providence Christian - Former coach: Parker Conley. New coach: Jonathan Beverly
Redan - Former coach: Rahman Sparks. New coach: Open
Roswell – Former coach: Matt Kemper. New coach: Open
Savannah - Former coach: Rebel Green. New coach: Michael Moore
Social Circle - Former coach: Chad Estes. New coach: Rob Patton
South Paulding - Former coach: Jason Thompson. New coach: Jason Nash
Southeast Whitfield - Former coach: Sean Gray. New coach: Todd Murray
Spalding - Former coach: Jeff Hammond. New coach: Karl Kearney
Tattnall County - Former coach: Nick Tatum. New coach: Ike Ferrell
Tri-Cites - Former coach: Terrence Banks. New coach: Cueavs Dargan
Trion - Former coach: Justin Brown. New coach: Open
Turner County - Former coach: Nick Hayes. New coach: Kevious Johnson
Union Grove - Former coach: Chad Frazier. New coach: Casey Smith
Valdosta - Former coach: Alan Rodemaker . New coach: Open
Vidalia - Former coach: Lee Chomskis. New coach: Jason Cameron
Walker - Former coach: Matt Casper. New coach: Michael Gunn
West Forsyth - Former coach: Shawn Cahill. New coach: Dave Svehla
Wheeler County - Former coach: Timothy McArthur. New coach: Thomas Smith
Whitewater - Former coach: Bryan Holley. New coach: Chad Frazier
Wilkinson County - Former coach: Keldrick Burke. New coach: Open
Windsor Forest - Former coach: Issac Ferrell. New coach: Jeb Stewart
Worth County - Former coach: Frankie Carroll. New coach: Phillip Ironside
