The next several weeks could see a flurry of high school football head coaches’ hirings and firings.
There have been 30 openings for head coaches this offseason, probably only a third of what is to come. Only five jobs have been reported as filled.
The most prominent changes have been at LaGrange, where former star player and alumnus Dialleo Burks will take over for Donnie Burch, who resigned but will remain on staff, and at Lovejoy, where Al Hughes was forced out and replaced by his defensive coordinator, Edgar Carson.
Hughes’ departure remains controversial. Hughes is the winningest coach in Clayton County and led Lovejoy to four consecutive region titles and two state runner-up finishes. He was given the chance to remain as athletic director but chose to resign. Schools are not obligated to explain personnel changes and have not commented.
Other reported hires have been at Chattooga (Charles Hammon replacing Clay Livingstone), Mount de Sales (Keith Hatcher for Robert Slocum) and Rockmart (Ben Turner for Dan Duff).
The most prominent job openings are those at Parkview and Monroe Area. Parkview’s Cecil Flowe won four state titles (1997, 2000-02). Monroe Area’s Matt Fligg was 41-8 during the past four seasons. Each retired after 21 seasons as head coaches.
Milton, others seek changes: Six metro Atlanta schools will argue Tuesday before the GHSA to be moved to another region for the 2014-16 academic years, but none is likely to get its wish. It is rare for the GHSA to grant appeals once it has placed schools in regions.
The biggest school wanting to move is Milton, which wants out of Region 5-AAAAAA and into Region 6 with five other north Fulton County schools. That’s not likely to happen. Such a move would place 11 schools in Region 6 and only eight in Region 5. One of those eight would be Roswell, another north Fulton school.
Other metro schools requesting moves are North Fulton (to 7-AAAAA from 6-AAAAA), Grady (to 6-AAAA from 5-AAAA), Pinecrest Academy (to 8-A from 6-A), Southwest Atlanta Christian (to 5-A from 6-A) and Whitefield Academy (to 6-A from 5-A). The GHSA is scheduled to ratify its classification plan Jan. 14.
Undefeated for now: The 14 state basketball champions from 2013 lost 68 games, an average of almost five per team. Every state champion lost at least twice. So it is interesting, if only trivial, to note that 16 Georgia basketball teams have made it into the new year with spotless records.
Only two of them are ranked No. 1. They are Redan’s girls (13-0) in Class AAAA and Greater Atlanta Christian’s boys (15-0) in AA. The only unbeaten teams in the highest classifications are Walton’s boys (11-0) and North Forsyth’s girls (14-0). Both are ranked sixth behind teams that have played tougher schedules.
Georgia’s other unbeaten boys teams include No. 2 Allatoona (13-0) and No. 5 Clarke Central (12-0) in AAAAA, No. 10 Thomson (9-0) in AAA, No. 2 Vidalia (13-0) in AA and No. 6 Calhoun County (10-0) in A. Other undefeated girls teams are No. 3 Mary Persons (10-0) in AAAA, No. 2 Washington County (10-0), No. 3 Beach (14-0) and No. 5 Southwest-Macon (10-0) in AAA, No. 2 Kendrick (10-0) and No. 4 Pelham (9-0) in AA and No. 2 Holy Innocents’ (12-0) in Class A.
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