The number of high school football teams that has looked for new head coaches this off-season stands at 43, probably less than half of where it’s headed. There were 102 at GHSA schools during the 2019 off-season.
South Paulding and Cedartown have made recent hires.
South Paulding promoted defensive coordinator Jason Nash to replace Jason Thompson, who took the Central Gwinnett job.
Nash was the defensive coordinator at Grayson in 2018. He was on Colquitt County’s staff in 2017. South Paulding had a breakthrough season in 2019, going 9-3 after finishing 2-8 the previous season.
Spalding coach Jeff Hammond is returning to south Georgia to become Coffee’s offensive coordinator. Hammond had been the offensive coordinator at Colquitt County for two stints totaling eight seasons before taking the Spalding job last year. Spalding finished 1-9.
Cedartown hired McEachern defensive coordinator Jamie Abrams to replace Doyle Kelley. Abrams was a head coach at Lamar County for two seasons. His record there was 15-7-1. He’s been on staffs at Ware County, East Paulding and South Paulding. Cedartown was 20-14 in three seasons under Kelley, 5-6 in 2019.
Class A public-school champion Irwin County’s new coach will be Casey Soliday, the interim head coach last season. The team’s head coach, Buddy Nobles, passed away last week after a months-long battle with stomach cancer. Nobles was the Class A coach of the year.
The most prominent coaching job that’s open is probably Hillgrove’s. That’s a Class AAAAAAA school in Cobb County. Former coach Phillip Ironside left for Worth County in south Georgia. Ironside started the program in 2006 and won four region titles.
Three Forsyth County jobs, all in the highest classification, remain open. They are Denmark, West Forsyth and Lambert.
2020 COACHING CHANGES
Alpharetta - Former coach: Jacob Nichols. New coach: Open
Cedartown - Former coach: Doyle Kelley. New coach: Jamie Abrams
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: Open
Coahulla Creek - Former coach: Caleb Bagley. New coach: Danny Wilson
Coosa - Former coach: Todd Wheeler. New coach: Joey Mathis
Denmark - Former coach: Terry Crowder. New coach: Open
Dooly County - Former coach: Ashley Harden. New coach: Phillip Hale
Druid Hills - Former coach: Rosaria Rice. New coach: Open
Forest Park - Former coach: Gerren Griffin. New coach: Open
Hillgrove - Former coach: Phillip Ironside. New coach: Open
Irwin County - Former coach: Buddy Nobles. New coach: Casey Soliday
King's Ridge Christian - Former coach: Jeff Pickren. New coach: Terry Crowder
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate - Former coach: James Briscoe. New coach: Coy Brown
LaGrange - Former coach: Chuck Gibbs. New coach: Matt Napier
Lambert - Former coach: Louis Daniel. New coach: Open
Lincoln County - Former coach: Michael Pollock. New coach: Lee Chomskis
Lowndes - Former coach: Randy McPherson. New coach: Jamie Dubose
Luella - Former coach: Jason Jackson. New coach: Open
Manchester - Former coach: Evan Hochstetler. New coach: Open
Mount Zion-Jonesboro - Former coach: Kevin Jones. New coach: Open
Northside-Columbus - Former coach: Dave Nurnberg. New coach: Andrew Oropeza
Northside-Warner Robins - Former coach: Kevin Kinsler. New coach: Chad Alligood
Providence Christian - Former coach: Parker Conley. New coach: Open
Redan - Former coach: Rahman Sparks. New coach: Open
Savannah - Former coach: Rebel Green. New coach: Open
Social Circle - Former coach: Chad Estes. New coach: Open
South Paulding - Former coach: Jason Thompson. New coach: Jason Nash
Southeast Whitfield - Former coach: Sean Gray. New coach: Open
Spalding - Former coach: Jeff Hammond. New coach: Open
Tatnall County - Former coach: Nick Tatum. New coach: Ike Ferrell
Tri-Cites - Former coach: Terrence Banks. New coach: Open
Turner County - Former coach: Nick Hayes. New coach: Kevious Johnson
Union Grove - Former coach: Chad Frazier. New coach: Casey Smith
Vidalia - Former coach: Lee Chomskis. New coach: Open
Walker - Former coach: Matt Casper. New coach: Open
West Forsyth - Former coach: Shawn Cahill. New coach: Open
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: Open
Worth County - Former coach: Frankie Carroll. New coach: Phillip Ironside
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