Football hires: Eastside’s Hoff to Woodstock, Forsyth’s Hepler steps down

Four footballs are shown at midfield before the game between Walton and Woodstock at Walton High School Friday, November 3, 2017, in Marietta. PHOTO / JASON GETZ

Four footballs are shown at midfield before the game between Walton and Woodstock at Walton High School Friday, November 3, 2017, in Marietta. PHOTO / JASON GETZ

Woodstock has hired a new football coach, and Eastside, Forsyth Central, Evans and Therrell are among those now in the market for one.

Recent hires and openings bring to 68 the number of off-season vacancies, and 42 have been filled.

Woodstock’s new coach is Troy Hoff, who led Eastside of Newton County to the Class 5A quarterfinals last season and in 2018. Hoff’s six-season record at Eastside was 51-17.

Hoff replaces Brent Budde, a Woodstock graduate who’d led the Wolverines since 2010.

Forsyth Central coach Frank Hepler has stepped down after five seasons. Hepler’s teams teams were 18-29. Previously a coach at West Forsyth, Hepler has the most victories of any coach in Forsyth County history.

Lemuel Lackey has left Evans, where he won region titles three of the past four seasons, for Fox Creek in South Carolina. Lackey’s record is 95-63 at Evans and at Laney in Augusta.

At Therrell in Atlanta, Greg Sullivan has resigned as head coach and will remain as athletic director.

Below are reported 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. New coach: Deshon Brock.

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.

Eastside – Former coach: Troy Hoff.

Effingham County - Former coach: Buddy Holder. New coach: John Ford.

Evans – Former coach: Lemuel Lackey.

Fellowship Christian - Former coach: Al Morrell. New coach: Tim McFarlin.

Forsyth Central – Former coach: Frank Hepler.

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 .

Hillgrove – Former coach: Byron Slack.

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.

Mitchell County – Former coach: Deshon Brock.

Monroe - Former coach: Charles Truitt.

Monticello - Former coach: Roderick Jackson. New coach: Aaron Pitts.

Morgan County - Former coach: Bill Malone. New coach: Clint Jenkins.

North Springs - Former coach: Scotty Parker.

Oglethorpe County - Former coach: Ronnie Harris.

Our Lady of Mercy - Former coach: Mark Miller.

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. New coach: Chad Garrison.

Stockbridge - Former coach: Steve Boyd. New coach: Thomas Clark.

Therrell – Former coach: Greg Sullivan.

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. New coach: Troy Hoff.

*Pending school board approval.