GHSF Daily is chronicling the many coaching changes in the offseason. We continue today with Class AAAAA.
Number of hires: 18
Best hire: John Reid, Rome
Hardest to replace: Olten Downs, Creekside
Best job: Creekside
Toughest job: Woodland (Cartersville)
Most interesting: Without a winning season since 2008, Tift County broke through in 2014 to make the playoffs out of Region 1-AAAAAA with a 7-4 record that included overtime road victories at Lowndes and Camden County. More surprise followed when the Blue Devils' coach, John Reid, bolted Tifton after only three seasons for Rome, which went 3-6 in 2014.
Region 1
*Shaw promoted defensive coordinator Chuck Stamey to replace Kyle Adkins, who left to become head coach at Pope. Stamey, a Hardaway graduate and former lineman at Valdosta State, was out of football for 14 years until coming to Shaw in 2010. Shaw was 14-17 in three seasons under Adkins.
Region 2
*Evans hired Laney coach Lemuel Lackey to replace Marty Jackson, who left to become athletics director at Grovetown. Lackey had spent his entire 18-year coaching career at Laney, was 56-33 in nine seasons as head coach and reached the 2013 Class AA quarterfinals. Evans was 63-62 in 12 seasons under Jackson, 5-5 in 2014.
*Greenbrier hired Evans defensive coordinator Tony Kramer to replace Jarrett Troxler, who resigned after one season (2-8 record) to become offensive coordinator at Thomson. Kramer was at Greenbrier from 2007 to 2011 as an assistant before moving to county rival Evans. He was head coach of nearby Columbia Middle School for 10 seasons. Greenbrier has not had a winning season since 2003 (7-4).
*Richmond Academy named defensive line coach Simon Rodriguez as interim head coach in July to replace Chris Hughes, who stepped down to become an assistant principal at the school. Hughes' record was 40-43-1 in nine seasons.
Region 3
*Brunswick hired Macon County coach Larry Harold to replace Victor Floyd, who was 42-35 in seven seasons. Harold, a Louisiana native, was 19-15 in three seasons at Macon County, improving each year (4-7 to 6-5 to 9-3) after inheriting a program that went 1-9 in 2011. Floyd, who won region titles at Brunswick in 2008 and 2009, returned to his old job as head coach of Chester in Rock Hill, S.C.
*Richmond Hill hired Wayne County running backs coach Matt LeZotte to replace Josh Eads, who was 2-8 in his only season. LeZotte, a graduate of Westside in Augusta, was head coach at Aquinas from 2009 to 2012, compiling a 28-16 record and winning the school's first state-playoff game since the school's founding in 1957. He was a star quarterback at James Madison. Eads is now an assistant at Bryan County.
Region 4
*Union Grove hired Hampton athletics director Craig Melton to replace Paul Burgdorf, who retired. Melton, a Stockbridge graduate, had been the defensive coordinator at Locust Grove for five years before going to Hampton in 2014. Union Grove was 29-25 in five seasons under Burgdorf.
Region 5
*East Paulding hired Cook coach Jon Lindsey, a Paulding County native, to replace Chuck Goddard, who was 23-11 in three seasons, 4-6 in 2014. Lindsey was 9-3 at Cook and 20-13-1 in three seasons at Irwin County and made the Class A public-school semifinals in 2013. Lindsey was the defensive coordinator for Camden County's 2008 and 2009 Class AAAAA championship teams. Goddard has joined Jep Irwin's staff at Lassiter.
Region 6
*Banneker hired Newnan running backs coach Marvell McKelphin to replace Shannon Williams after an 0-10 finish in 2014. McKelphin was an assistant for 15 seasons at Carrollton and part of that school's 1998 state-championship team. Williams is now an assistant at North Atlanta.
*Creekside hired alumnus Will Rogers, the offensive line coach at Valdosta, to replace Olten Downs, who took a football staff position at the University of Georgia. Rogers was an assistant at Whitewater from 2009 to 2013 under Amos McCreary, Rogers' high school coach at Creekside.
*Dunwoody hired Shiloh assistant Michael Nash to replace Jim Showfety, whose teams were 20-30 in five seasons. Nash, a Shiloh graduate, also has been an assistant at North Gwinnett. The Dunwoody job originally went to Mountain View defensive coordinator Nick Bach, who changed course two weeks later and returned to Mountain View as head coach. Showfety is now an assistant at Marist, his position before becoming a head coach in 2007.
Region 7
*North Atlanta promoted interim coach and assistant Jeremy Gainer to replace Doug Britten, who became an assistant principal at North Gwinnett. Gainer, a native of Fort Oglethorpe, has been at North Atlanta for three years and with Atlanta Public Schools for 12, mostly at Mays. North Atlanta was 3-27 in three seasons with Britten.
*River Ridge promoted offensive coordinator Tyler Wynn to replace Robert Braucht, who started the program in 2009 and was 20-35 in six seasons. Wynn came to River Ridge in 2010. He's a former quarterback at Troup. Wynn coached briefly at Troup after graduating from Carson-Newman, where he played football and baseball. Braucht is now the defensive line coach at Ware County.
*Rome hired Tift County coach John Reid to replace Rome native Franco Perkins, who was 29-23 in five seasons. Reid was 14-17 in three seasons at Tift but took the Blue Devils to the Class AAAAAA playoffs with a 7-4 record in 2014. Reid built a name in Georgia over six seasons at East Paulding, where he was 60-15 at a program that had not won a playoff game in its history dating to 1991. Reid won state titles in 2004 and 2005 at Alcoa in Tennessee. Perkins was hired as defensive coordinator at North Murray.
*Woodland of Cartersville promoted offensive coordinator Tony Plott to replace Vince DiLorenzo, whose teams were 10-30 in four seasons, 0-10 in 2014. Plott has been with Woodland for 11 seasons. DiLorenzo is now an assistant at Sonoraville.
Region 8
*Apalachee hired Norcross offensive coordinator Steve Sims to replace Shane Davis, who was 48-59 in 10 seasons, 1-19 over the past two. Sims led the offenses for Norcross's Class AAAAAA championship teams of 2012 and 2013. Sims also coached at Buford before coming to Norcross in 1999. Sims was a wide receiver at Dacula and West Georgia. Davis is now the offensive line coach at Prince Avenue Christian.
*Discovery, the newest school in Gwinnett County, hired Nova (Fla.) head coach Frank Hepler, who is best known in Georgia for starting West Forsyth's program in 2007. West Forsyth was 49-18 in Hepler's six seasons and reached the playoffs four consecutive times. Discovery, located about two miles west of downtown Lawrenceville on Old Norcross Road, will relieve Berkmar and Central Gwinnett.
*Loganville promoted longtime defensive coordinator Mike Humphreys to replace Mike Parris, who retired. This will be Humphreys' 12th season at Loganville. He has coached for 31 years, including stops at Duluth (2001-2003) and Pearl River Community College (1989-2000). Parris' career record was 168-89 overall, 4-6 at Loganville.
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