There were 67 head coaches hired by GHSA schools in the off-season. This week, MaxPreps Georgia High School Football Daily looks at each of them class by class, starting with Class AAAAA.
Campbell-Smyrna: Harris Rainbow, who was coach at Walnut Grove, replaces T.K. Dodd, who was 3-17 in two seasons and forced to resign in March. Rainbow, a graduate of Wheeler High, left Walnut Grove to be closer to his family. Rainbow's eight-season record is 26-52, all in building situations — Walnut Grove (2009-10), Worth County (2006-08) and Riverwood (2003-05).
Dacula: Jared Zito, who was coach at North Forsyth, replaces Kevin Maloof, who retired for health reasons. Zito was 18-24 in four seasons at North Forsyth, but 17-15 in his final three seasons at a program that was 1-9 before he arrived. Zito was 15-27 at Spruce Creek (Fla.) before coming to Georgia in 2006 to be the offensive coordinator at Etowah. Maloof was 150-77 at Dacula. His final team was 6-4 last season and was the only team to defeat eventual Class AAAAA champion Brookwood.
Milton: Howie DeCristofaro, who was defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Pope, replaces Scott Walker, who resigned for health and family reasons. DeCristofaro has been a head coach in Florida at St. Edward's, DeLand, Gaither, Manatee and New Smyrna Beach. He led St. Edward's to the state final in 1989. He came to Georgia in 2007 to be an assistant at Etowah before joining Pope's staff. Milton was 24-27 under Walker, with a peak finish of 8-3 in 2008. Milton has not had a better finish since 1980.
North Forsyth: Blair Armstrong, who was coach at Banks County, replaces Jared Zito, who left for the Dacula job. Armstrong has won state titles at Peachtree Ridge (2006) and Jefferson County, Fla. (1981). A Florida native, Armstrong was 19-22 at Banks County, which had not had a winning season since 1997 until the 7-3 record in 2010. North Forsyth made the playoffs the past two seasons under Zito and was 5-6 in 2010. The school was in Class AAA as recently as 2001, when it made the state semifinals.
Peachtree Ridge: The school promoted offensive coordinator Mark Fleetwood to replace Bill Ballard, who took the job as head coach at White County. Fleetwood, a star player at Lakeside-DeKalb in the late 1970s and then at South Carolina, has spent most of his coaching career in college at stops that include Jacksonville State, Troy, The Citadel and Chattanooga. He was head coach at Habersham Central (1995-96) and defensive coordinator at Cartersville (2007-09) before coming to Peachtree Ridge. Ballard was 36-14 in his four seasons. Peachtree Ridge was 6-4 in 2010.
Roswell: The school promoted offensive coordinator Justin Sanderson to replace Leo Barker, who was 22-12 in three seasons. Sanderson has been a Roswell assistant since 2003 and was a member of the 2006 staff that won a Class AAAAA championship. Roswell has hired each of its past 10 head coaches from its staff, a tradition that dates to the 1950s. Barker resigned in February because of his wife's job transfer to California. Roswell was 7-5 last season.
Shiloh: Brian Montgomery, who was at North Atlanta, replaces Keith Wilkes, who resigned after a 1-9 finish. Montgomery, a former Banneker player, was 16-14 at North Atlanta in what was the best three-year run in school history. The team was 7-3 last season and graduated 10 players who signed college scholarships. Wilkes was 9-21 at the Snellville school, which hasn't had a playoff victory or an all-state player since David Pollack starred on the 2000 team.
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