Two Cobb County football teams have new coaches as Osborne’s Luqman Salam has taken the Harrison job while Derek Cook has filled Osborne’s vacancy.
Salam is the coach behind the remarkable turnaround at Osborne, which had been Cobb County’s most moribund program.
Salam’s teams were 1-8, 5-5 and 7-4 at a program that had gone 2-47 the previous five seasons and not won more than three games in a season since 1994.
This past season’s state-playoff berth was the first in school history.
Osborne is getting one of the most proven coaches in the county, something the school might’ve struggled to do in the past.
Cook, announced as Osborne’s coach on Thursday, led Kell, an East Cobb school, to four region titles from 2008 to 2016. He left on top, with his team going 11-3 and reaching the Class 5A semifinals, choosing to take a break from head coaching.
He has been on staffs at McEachern, Lassiter and Campbell since.
Here are the GHSA coaching openings that have been reported since the end of the 2023 season. GHSF Daily will update this list as more jobs become open and as vacancies are filled. Names listed include the 2023 coach with new coaches in bold when hires are made.
Arabia Mountain: Julian Washington
Baldwin: Jesse Hicks [Hired: Kevin Patterson]
Banks County: Jay Reid [Hired: Todd Winter]
Brantley County: Geoff Cannon
Cambridge: Craig Bennett [Hired: Tyler Jones]
Camden County: Jeff Herron
Chattahoochee County: Josh Jacobson
Charlton County: Russ Murray [Hired: DeMario Jones]
Cherokee: Josh Shaw [Hired: Adam Holley]
Columbus: Phil Marino [Hired: Robert Peters]
Coosa: Joey Mathis [Hired: Geoff Cannon]
Dodge County: Thomas Smith [Hired: Phillip Brown]
East Forsyth: Brian Allison [Hired: Dustin Canon]
East Laurens: Bin Turner [Hired: Jesse Hicks]
Fayette County: Nick Davis
GMC Prep: Bobby Rhoades [Hired: Gavin Tierce]
Greenbrier: Tony Kramer [Hired: Sean Tiernan]
Hancock Central: Marleau Blount
Haralson County: Scott Peavey [Hired: Randy Crutchfield]
Harrison: Josh Cassidy [Hired: Luqman Salam]
Holy Innocents’: Todd Winter
Howard: Paul Carroll
Jackson: Chris Henderson
Josey: Lawrence Pinkney
Kendrick: Robert Morgan [Hired: Emmanuel Brown]
King’s Ridge Christian: Terry Crowder [Hired: Zach Slaney]
LaFayette: Andy Scott
Lithonia: Kevin Hill [Hired: Kevin Barnes]
Macon County: Dexter Copeland
Manchester: Stephen Holmes
Mays: Tony Slaton [Hired: Reggie Austin]
McDonough: Rodney Cofield
Midtown: Delbert Ellerton [Hired: Leroy Hood]
Miller County: Daniel McFather [Hired: Tom Causey]
Montgomery County: Don Vandygriff
Mount Pisgah Christian: Ryan Livezey [Hired: Elijer Martinez]
Mount Vernon: Wayne Dabbs [Hired: Terrence Edwards]
Northgate: Mike McDonald
Ola: Tom Causey
Osborne: Luqman Salam [Hired: Derek Cook]
Paulding County: Eric “Sumo” Robinson [Hired: Justin Pressley]
Pepperell: Rick Hurst [Hired: Brandon Haywood]
Pickens: Grant Myers [Hired: Craig Bennett]
Pike County: Bryan Holley [Hired: Stephen Holmes]
Riverwood: Michael Young [Hired: Shawn Cahill]
Salem: Leroy Hood [Hired: Michael Johnson]
South Cobb: Thomas Hanson
Stone Mountain: Greg Carter
Tattnall County: Isaac Ferrell [Hired Pat Collins]
Tift County: Noel Dean
Treutlen: Pat Collins [Hired: Alan Shurling]
Turner County: Ben Simmons [Hired: Demario Barber]
Twiggs County: Patrick Wray
Union Grove: Casey Smith [Hired: Greg Harris]
Wheeler County: Britt Ingle [Hired Thomas Smith]
Woodland (Cartersville): Brandon Haywood
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