Tywanois Lockett is the new head coach at McNair in DeKalb County.
Lockett was linebackers coach for Cedar Shoals last season and coached linebackers and tight ends for Elbert County in 2008.
Before that, Lockett had been an assistant coach Blount, Jess Lanier and Fairfield in Alabama. Lockett has hired an offensive coordinator, Antonio Poterfield, a former teammate of Lockett at Alabama State.
Lockett said he has retained three coaches from the previous staff - Edward Waters, Raymond Tillery and Warren Torres.
McNair finished 4-6 last season under John April, who got the job only days before the opener against Stephenson was Roderick Moore was unexpectedly fired. Moore had been 26-18 in four seasons.
"I've heard so many great things about DeKalb, and I looked at the history [of McNair], and there's a good tradition of winning,'' Lockett said. "It was an opportunity to be a part of a great program, and I decided to take a chance.''
McNair had made the playoffs for seven of the past eight seasons until last year, when coach Roderick Moore was fired unexpectedly just days before the opener. John April coached the team in the interim.