The number of openings for head football coaches this off season has topped 60, but more news is being made with hires. Most jobs now are filled.
Fellowship Christian’s hire of former Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin on Monday was the latest in big-news hires that have taken place since the season ended in December. Cedar Grove’s Miguel Patrick to Crisp County and St. Pius’ Paul Standard to Gilmer were others.
Here are five more recent ones, plus a list of 61 reported openings and 37 hires. That’s about eight openings ahead of last season’s pace, which finished with 75 new hires.
*Alexander hired Westover coach Olten Downs to replace Matt Combs. Downs’ Westover teams were 12-14. Downs is best known as the coach who led Creekside to a state title in 2013. Alexander made the playoffs seven of the past eight seasons under Combs and was 6-4 in 2020.
*Appling County promoted defensive coordinator Jordan Mullis to replace the retiring Rick Tomberlin. Mullis has been on Appling’s staff the past two seasons. He coached at Wayne County prior. Appling reached the Class 3A quarterfinals last season.
*Dalton promoted defensive coordinator Kit Carpenter to replace Matt Land. Carpenter, a Dalton graduate, has been on Dalton’s staff for nearly 20 years. Dalton was 2-7 in 2020, the Catamounts’ first losing season since 1959 when not counting 2011 forfeits.
*Eagle’s Landing hired Duluth linebackers coach Markus Brown to replace Shawn Jones. Eagle’s Landing was 0-10 last season.
*Westside of Augusta hired Richmond County defensive coordinator Lee Hutto to replace Jon Wiley. Hutto has been a head coach at Washington-Wilkes and Warren County. Westside finished 6-5 last season, its best record since 2006.
Coaching openings and hires:
Alexander - Former coach: Matt Combs. New coach: Olten Downs.
Appling County - Former coach: Rick Tomberlin. New coach: Jordan Mullis
Arabia Mountain - Former coach: Stanley Pritchett.
Banneker - Former coach: Lou George. New coach: Braxton Kelly.
Blessed Trinity - Former coach: Tim McFarlin. New coach: Tom Hall.
Bradwell Institute - Former coach: Kyle Adkins .
Camden County - Former coach: Bob Sphire.
Carrollton - Former coach: Sean Calhoun. New coach: Joey King.
Cedar Grove - Former coach: Miguel Patrick.
Central-Talbotton - Former coach: Cedric Stegall.
Crawford County - Former coach: Jhon Smith. New coach: Craig Puckett.
Crisp County - Former coach: Brad Harber. New coach: Miguel Patrick.
Dacula - Former coach: Clint Jenkins.
Dalton - Former coach: Matt Land. New coach: Kit Carpenter.
Douglass - Former coach: Rodney Cofield.
Eagle’s Landing - Former coach: Shawn Jones. New coach: Markus Brown.
East Forsyth - Former coach: New school. New coach: Brian Allison.
Effingham County - Former coach: Buddy Holder. New coach: John Ford.
Fellowship Christian - Former coach: Al Morrell. New coach: Tim McFarlin.
Franklin County - Former coach: Paul Sutherland.
George Walton Academy - Former coach: Shane Davis.
Gilmer - Former coach: Kevin Saunders. New coach: Paul Standard.
Grovetown - Former coach: Damien Postell.
Hardaway - Former coach: Michael Woolridge.
Harrison - Former coach: Matt Dickmann. New coach: Josh Cassidy.
Heard County - Former coach: Tim Barron. New coach: Shane Lasseter .
Jenkins - Former coach: Gene Clemmons.
Jordan - Former coach: Joseph Kegler. New coach: Dale Overton.
Lake Oconee Academy - Former coach: New program. New coach: Drew Anthony.
Lamar County - Former coach: Jeff Sloan. New coach: Travis Ellington.
Landmark Christian - Former coach: Mike Sherrard. New coach: Tommy Lewis.
Locust Grove - Former coach: Clint Satterfield.
Long County - Former coach: John Pollock. New coach: Mike Pfiester.
McDonough - Former coach: Eric Solomon. New coach: Rodney Cofield.
Miller Grove - Former coach: Lee Hannah.
Monroe - Former coach: Charles Truitt.
Monticello - Former coach: Roderick Jackson.
Morgan County - Former coach: Bill Malone. New coach: Clint Jenkins.
North Springs - Former coach: Scotty Parker.
Oglethorpe County - Former coach: Ronnie Harris.
Osborne - Former coach: Russell Isham. New coach: Luqman Salam.
Pickens - Former coach: Jeff Nelson. New coach: Grant Myers.
Portal - Former coach: Matt Smith.
Rockdale County - Former coach: Derek Coggin. New coach: Lee Hannah.*
Savannah Country Day - Former coach: Jim Collis. New coach: Tyler Ward.
Seminole County - Former coach: Trey Woolf. New coach: Cedric Stegall.
South Cobb - Former coach: Terry Jones. New coach: Thomas Hanson.
South Forsyth - Former coach: Jeff Arnette. New coach: Troy Morris .
South Gwinnett - Former coach: Steve Davenport. New coach: Bryan Lamar.*
Spencer - Former coach: Robert Sanders. New coach: Joseph Kegler.
St. Pius - Former coach: Paul Standard.
Stockbridge - Former coach: Steve Boyd. New coach: Thomas Clark.
Tift County - Former coach: Ashley Anders. New coach: Noel Dean.
Towers - Former coach: Vonnell Carter. New coach: Michael Johnson.
Union County - Former coach: Brian Allison.
Villa Rica - Former coach: Christian Hunnicutt. New coach: Tim Barron.
Walker - Former coach: Aaron Dobbins. New coach: Gary Nelson.
Westover - Former coach: Olten Downs.
Westside-Augusta - Former coach: Jon Wiley. New coach: Lee Hotto.
Woodland-Stockbridge - Former coach: Bryan Bailey. New coach: Julian Hicks.
Woodstock - Former coach: Brent Budde.
*Pending school board approval.
About the Author
