Off-season head-coaching changes in football are running lower than usual, with only 70 reported so far among Georgia High School Association schools. That’s about 20 below the average for the past decade.
Travis Noland, head coach at Oconee County and president of the Georgia High School Football Coaches Association, doesn’t see deep meaning in that.
‘’I don’t have an answer except I think those things go in cycles,’’ Noland said. “If not mistaken, the three previous years have been high. Realistically, it can’t be high every single year because that means new coaches aren’t getting more than two or three years in the jobs they’re in.’’
Noland is right about recent seasons. There were an average of 101 job openings the past three seasons. The average for the decade is 90. There are 422 football-playing schools in the GHSA.
Noland doesn’t believe that the early school closings and canceling of spring sports related to COVID-19 are factors.
‘’Most jobs open December to the first of February, so I don’t think the pandemic has anything to do with that except maybe a few that would’ve occurred late, but I doubt it,’’ Noland said. ‘’Hiring a football coach is not an easy job for administrators. They’re not just going to be firing people just to fire people.’’
The 70 will continue to grow, so it’s not over yet. Just last week, Elbert County coach Brad Waggoner stepped down unexpectedly after one season.
A single job change can lead to a domino effect. If Elbert of any of eight other schools that have openings hire another Georgia head coach, that creates another opening. About 21 percent of hires this season (13 of 61) have involved one Georgia school hiring the head coach of another.
North Atlanta’s Sean O’Sullivan recently took the Centennial job, opening up North Atlanta. Baconton Charter, a Class A school in South Georgia, just hired Miller County head coach David Bell, which opened up Miller County.
The biggest recent hire took place last week when Valdosta took on former Colquitt County head coach Rush Propst, but there have been a few others at smaller schools.
Harlem this week promoted offensive coordinator Mark Boiter, an alumnus, to replace Todd Booker, who was 27-26 over five seasons and made the playoffs the past three.
Druid Hills last week hired Mundy’s Mill defensive coordinator Mark Myers to replace Rosaria Rice, who will remain as a basketball coach. Myers has been a head coach at Riverwood (2017) and Dutchtown (2014-16).
Redan has promoted Derek Vaughn, who also serves as the DeKalb County schools head wrestling coach.
Tattnall Square last week has hired John Garrett Abernathy to replace Chance Jones.
Jenkins and Beach of Savannah hired coaches earlier this month. Beach hired Tucker quarterbacks coach Gene Clemons to replace Jason Cameron, who took the Vidalia job. Beach promoted Michael Thompson to replace Ulysses Hawthorne, who retired.
Jobs still open include those at Bryan County, Hephzibah, Miller County, Mount Zion of Jonesboro, North Atlanta, Pataula Charter and Wilkinson County.
Coaching changes since 2010:
2020 - 70
2019 - 102
2018 - 93
2017 - 109
2016 - 82
2015 - 84
2014 - 92
2013 - 95
2012 - 92
2011 - 71
2010 - 87
Source: GHSFHA.com
Coaching changes for 2020:
Alpharetta - New coach: Jason Kervin. Former coach: Jacob Nichols
Baconton Charter - New coach: David Bell. Former coach: Parker Rentz
Beach - New coach: Michael Thompson. Former coach: Ulysses Hawthorne
Bryan County - New coach: Open. Former coach: Abram Scott
Cass - New coach: Steve Gates. Former coach: Bobby Hughes
Cedartown - New coach: Jamie Abrams. Former coach: Doyle Kelley
Centennial - New coach: Sean O'Sullivan. Former coach: Shane Sams
Central Gwinnett - New coach: Jason Thompson. Former coach: Todd Wofford
Chattahoochee County - New coach: Pierre Coffey. Former coach: Jody Allen
Chattooga - New coach: Shawn Peek. Former coach: Charles Hammon
Coahulla Creek - New coach: Danny Wilson. Former coach: Caleb Bagley
Coosa - New coach: Joey Mathis. Former coach: Todd Wheeler
Dade County - New coach: Jeff Poston. Former coach: Dale Pruitt
Decatur - New coach: William Felton. Former coach: Cody Cory
Deerfield-Windsor - New coach: Jake McCrae. Former coach: Allen Lowe
Denmark - New coach: Mike Palmieri. Former coach: Terry Crowder
Dooly County - New coach: Phillip Hale. Former coach: Ashley Harden
Druid Hills - New coach: Mark Myers. Former coach: Rosaria Rice
Elbert County - New coach: Open. Former coach: Brad Waggoner
Etowah - New coach: Matt Kemper. Former coach: Dave Svehla
Forest Park - New coach: Rex Robertson. Former coach: Gerren Griffin
Harlem - New coach: Mark Boiter. Former coach: Todd Booker
Hebron Christian - New coach: Stan Luttrell. Former coach: Jeff Saturday
Hephzibah - New coach: Open. Former coach: William Harrell
Hillgrove - New coach: Byron Slack. Former coach: Phillip Ironside
Irwin County - New coach: Casey Soliday. Former coach: Buddy Nobles
Islands - New coach: Deshawn Printup. Former coach: Robert Zoller
Jenkins - New coach: Gene Clemons. Former coach: Jason Cameron
Johnson (Gainesville) - New coach: William Harrell. Former coach: Stan Luttrell
King's Ridge Christian - New coach: Terry Crowder. Former coach: Jeff Pickren
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate - New coach: Coy Brown. Former coach: James Briscoe
LaGrange - New coach: Matt Napier. Former coach: Chuck Gibbs
Lakeview Academy - New coach: Lee Shaw. Former coach: Mattew Gruhn
Lambert - New coach: Tommy Watson. Former coach: Louis Daniel
Lincoln County - New coach: Lee Chomskis. Former coach: Michael Pollock
Loganville - New coach: Brad Smith. Former coach: Mike Humphreys
Loganville Christian - New coach: Adam Miller. Former coach: Patrick Stewart
Lowndes - New coach: Jamey DuBose. Former coach: Randy McPherson
Luella - New coach: Craig Coleman. Former coach: Jason Jackson
Manchester - New coach: James Moore. Former coach: Evan Hochstetler
Miller County - New coach: Open. Former coach: David Bell
Mount Zion (Jonesboro) - New coach: Open. Former coach: Kevin "Bull" Jones
North Atlanta - New coach: Open. Former coach: Sean O’Sullian
North Paulding - New coach: Don Stark. Former coach: Jim Bob Bryant
Northside - New coach: Andrew Oropeza. Former coach: Dave Nurnberg
Northside - New coach: Chad Alligood. Former coach: Kevin Kinsler
Pataula Charter - New coach: Open. Former coach: Richard Andrews
Providence Christian - New coach: Jonathan Beverly. Former coach: Parker Conley
Redan - New coach: Derek Vaughn. Former coach: Rahman Sparks
Roswell - New coach: Chris Prewett. Former coach: Matt Kemper
Savannah - New coach: Michael Moore. Former coach: Rebel Green
Social Circle - New coach: Rob Patton. Former coach: Chad Estes
South Paulding - New coach: Jason Nash. Former coach: Jason Thompson
Southeast Whitfield - New coach: Todd Murray. Former coach: Sean Gray
Spalding - New coach: Carl Kearney. Former coach: Jeff Hammond
Tattnall Square - New coach: John Garrett Abernathy. Former coach: Chance Jones
Tattnall County - New coach: Ike Ferrell. Former coach: Nick Tatum
Tri-Cites - New coach: Cuevas Dargan. Former coach: Terrence Banks
Trion - New coach: Sean Patrick. Former coach: Justin Brown
Turner County - New coach: Kevious Johnson. Former coach: Nick Hayes
Union Grove - New coach: Casey Smith. Former coach: Chad Frazier
Valdosta - New coach: Rush Prospt. Former coach: Alan Rodemaker
Vidalia - New coach: Jason Cameron. Former coach: Lee Chomskis
Walker - New coach: Michael Gunn. Former coach: Matt Casper
West Forsyth - New coach: Dave Svehla. Former coach: Shawn Cahill
Wheeler County - New coach: Thomas Smith. Former coach: Timothy McArthur
Whitewater - New coach: Chad Frazier. Former coach: Bryan Holley
Wilkinson County - New coach: Open. Former coach: Keldrick Burke
Windsor Forest - New coach: Jeb Stewart. Former coach: Isaac Ferrell
Worth County - New coach: Phillip Ironside. Former coach: Frankie Carroll
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