GHSF Daily is chronicling the many coaching changes in the offseason. We conclude today with Class A.
Number of hires: 14
Best hire: Buddy Nobles
Hardest to replace: Larry Campbell
Best job: Lincoln County
Toughest job: Towns County
Most interesting:
The retirement of Lincoln County's Larry Campbell was the biggest story, but the most surprising occurred in late June, when Athens Academy's Michael Gunn resigned suddenly. Only three Georgia head coaches in any classification had been on the job longer at one school than Gunn when he decided to step down.
Region 1
*Miller County hired Mary Persons offensive coordinator Jeremy Rayburn to replace Frank Killingsworth. Rayburn has been on Mary Persons' staff since 2007 and also coached at Franklin County (2005-06), Thomasville (2002-04) and Pickens (2001). He is a former Thomasville player. Killingsworth was 51-30 in seven seasons. He now is an assistant at Early County.
Region 2
*Irwin County hired Coffee assistant Buddy Nobles to replace Jon Lindsey, who left to become head coach at Cook. Nobles followed Coffee head coach Robby Pruitt from Fitzgerald in 2012 and had been on Pruitt's staff at University Christian and Union County in Florida, where the two were part of several state championship teams. Nobles was head coach for five seasons at Union County, leading the team to a Class 2B state championship game in 2003.
Region 3
*Claxton promoted defensive coordinator Rodrick Williams, an alumnus, to replace Patrick Hendrix, who resigned and left to pursue non-coaching opportunities. Williams has coached at Claxton since finishing a Master's degree at Armstrong Atlantic State in 2001.
*Jenkins County hired Charley Waters to replace Ashley Harden, who was 7-13 in two seasons. Waters was Jenkins County's interim coach in 2011 when Chris Mason became ill and was unable to begin the season. Waters remained at Jenkins County when Harden was hired. Harden led Jenkins County to a 6-4 finish in his second season, the best for the school since 1999, but fell to 1-9 last year.
*Portal hired Southeast Bulloch offensive coordinator Jon Willoughby to replace David NeSmith, who became offensive coordinator at Bradwell Institute. This will be the 20th season of coaching for the well-traveled Willoughby, whose stops include Wayne County (1996), Dublin (1997-99), Burke County (1999), Montgomery County (2000), Wheeler County (2001-04), Effingham County (2005-09), Long County (2010) and Southeast Bulloch (2011-13). Portal was 10-19-1 in three seasons under NeSmith.
Region 4
*Schley County hired Americus-Sumter offensive coordinator Mark Daniel to replace Josh Kemp, who returned to Chattahoochee County as head coach. Daniel has been a head coach at Fitzgerald (1994-95), Screven County (1999-2005) and Wayne County (2008-09). He won a state title at Screven in 2002. Kemp was 4-16 in two seasons.
Region 5
*Strong Rock Christian promoted Tommy Webb to replace Mark Miller. Webb was head coach at Riverdale, Jonesboro and Fayette County before joining Strong Rock's staff in 2011. Miller, who was 9-21 in three seasons, is now head coach at Canterbury School in Fort Myers, Fla.
Region 6
*Walker hired Lovett running backs coach Matt Casper to replace John East, who left to become athletics director at Christian Academy in Knoxville. Casper came to Lovett in 2007 and had coached two seasons at Savannah Country Day. He also was a graduate assistant at Ithaca, where he had been an option quarterback. Walker was 15-6 in East's two seasons.
Region 7
*Lincoln County promoted defensive coordinator Kevin Banks to replace Larry Campbell, who retired after 42 seasons during which he won a state-record 477 games. Banks had been on Campbell's staff for 19 seasons, including state championships in 1995, 2005 and 2006. Banks also assumed Campbell's position as athletics director.
*Mount de Sales promoted Keith Hatcher to replace Robert Slocum, who remained as athletics director after 20 seasons as head coach during which he won a GISA championship in 1996, when Hatcher was a player. Hatcher returned to his alma mater in 2013. He had coached at Valdosta State, Murray State and Georgia Southern. He is a cousin of Murray State head coach Chris Hatcher.
*Twiggs County hired Dexter Copeland, its coach from 2001 to 2009, to replace Jeb Stewart, who was 5-15 in two seasons. Copeland was 73-32 at Twiggs, a program that wasn't used to winning, but he left in 2010 to become head coach at Baldwin, where he was 28-17 overall, but 3-7 in 2013. Stewart returned to Wilkinson County, where he will be the offensive coordinator.
Region 8
*Athens Academy named 19-year assistant coach Don Chuboff the interim head coach after Michael Gunn resigned in June. Gunn was 194-72-1 in 23 seasons and is not coaching this fall.
*Athens Christian promoted offensive coordinator Chris Williams to replace Steve Brooks, who resigned. Athens Christian was 11-21 in three seasons under Brooks, the former Clarke Central head coach whose job partly was to groom a successor. Williams is a former Athens Christian quarterback.
*Towns County promoted offensive coordinator Billy Barnhart, who had been on the job only two months when head coach Blair Harrison took a job at St. Martin's Episcopal in Louisiana. Barnhart was head coach at Whitwell in Tennessee the past three seasons. His teams were 7-23 overall, but 5-5 in 2013.
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