Putnam County’s Shaun Pope is retiring after five seasons as head coach and leading the War Eagles to a region title and three playoff victories.

Pope’s record was 38-19. His 2021 team was 12-1 and made the quarterfinals for the first time since 1996. This season’s team finished 9-3 and lost to Class 2A finalists Fitzgerald and Thomson and 3A semifinalist Oconee County.

Pope had been Putnam’s defensive coordinator and a head coach at Chattahoochee County and Montgomery County.

“I’m the kind of guy who if I can’t give something my whole heart and mind, then I will just not do it,” Pope told Lance McCurley of the Eatonton Messenger. “I was getting to the point where I didn’t feel like I was giving our kids and coaching staff everything that I could. It’s just also that my time is valuable. I am 50 years old, and I have two small children. I just want to spend time with them.”

Pope plans to teach four more years.

Briefly ...

Tri-Cities and Treutlen are looking for new coaches. Tri-Cities, a south Fulton County school in Class 5A, was 6-22 in three seasons under Cuevas Dargan and 0-10 the season before Dargan was hired. Treutlen, a southeast Georgia school in Class A Division II, was 9-39 in five seasons under Steve Versprille.

Click here for a complete list of head coaching openings.

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez