Georgia High School Football Daily reporter Todd Holcomb lists five high school coaches who made surprising moves in recent years.
1. Jeff Herron
Herron was 154-18 in 18 seasons at Camden County, with state titles in 2003, 2008 and 2009 in Georgia’s highest classification. In February, he stunned many when he retired from public schools after 30 years and traded in one of nation’s more high-profile high school jobs to coach at Class A private school Prince Avenue Christian.
2. Dell McGee
McGee’s 88-19 record and one state title in eight seasons at Carver-Columbus was remarkable at a school that hadn’t won a state playoff game since 1987 until McGee, a Columbus native who played in the NFL, took over the program. In February, McGee took a support-staff job with the football program at Auburn, his alma mater.
3. T. McFerrin
A winner of 300 games in a career that began in the 1960s, McFerrin had been retired for five seasons in 2009 when he was talked into stepping back on the sidelines at Jefferson. He set a state record in 2012 as the first Georgia coach to lead five different schools to the state semifinals. Jefferson went a step further and won the Class AA championship, the school’s first state title. McFerrin retired again, for good this time, in January.
4. Franklin Stephens
Stephens won two state titles in his five seasons at Tucker, where he coached several big-time college prospects. But just months after the 2012 state championship, Stephens moved to the country to coach Lamar County, a Class AA school with only a modest football tradition. The principal there was one of Stephens’ former college teammates at Georgia Southern.
5. Rick Tomberlin
It wasn’t shocking that Tomberlin was fired. The coach who won three state championships at Washington County in the 1990s failed to approach that success in four seasons at Valdosta, the state’s most storied program. But the timing of his dismissal — days after a 57-15 loss to archrival Lowndes in the season’s seventh game in 2009 — was an unusual step for a high school program. Tomberlin was allowed to complete the season, finishing 7-4, but Valdosta moved ahead and hired Rance Gillespie.
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