Adam Carter, who led Creekview of Cherokee County to its first region title and 10-0 regular season in 2018, will be the new head coach at Grayson pending approval of the school board on Tuesday.
In Carter’s only season at Creekview, the Grizzlies finished 12-1 and reached the Class AAAAAA quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Lee County 42-20. Creekview finished No. 4 in the final rankings, the highest ever for a Cherokee County school. Carter was The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s coach of the year in AAAAAA.
‘’In this profession, there are a couple of jobs that you always think that if you get a shot at it, you’d like that opportunity, and I don’t know if there’s a bigger job in Georgia than Grayson High School,’’ Carter said. “I was blessed that they wanted to talk to me. It’s a place where they have great support and an administration that’s football people. Grayson has won for numerous years now, and I hope I can keep that tradition going.’’
Grayson, a state champion in 2011 and 2016, has won at least 10 games in 11 of the past 12 seasons and fielded numerous high-profile players such as Robert Nkemdiche, Owen Pappoe, Wanya Morris and DeAngelo Gibbs, all five-star recruits who have signed with or played for SEC schools. The 2018 team finished 10-3 and had 12 major Division I signees.
Carter, 34, is a former Paulding County and West Georgia player who has made several stops in his 12 years in coaching. Carter had come to Creekview from Valdosta, where he was the defensive coordinator for the 2016 Class AAAAAA championship team. Carter also has been an assistant at Marietta, Camden County and alma mater Paulding County as well as Reinhardt College as defensive coordinator for one season, 2014. He was head coach at Bradwell Institute in 2013 and led the Tigers to a 4-6 finish, twice the number of victories as the prior season.
Carter will replace Christian Hunnicutt, who was let go despite a 20-5 record over two seasons. Hunnicutt is now the head coach at Villa Rica.
Carter said he made no decisions on staff hires or whether any current Creekview assistants would join him.
‘’I’m going to sit down with the current [Grayson] staff soon,’’ Carter said. “There are some good coaches on that staff and good men. I don’t know them yet. I’ve never worked with them personally and I’m excited about talking ball with them and making sure it’s the right fit.’’
Carter said he expected Creekview to maintain the momentum of the 2018 team that swept Region 6-AAAAAA.
‘’I can’t even describe how good those folks have been to me, both the administration and Cherokee County in general,’’ Carter said. “They gave me an opportunity to get back into head coaching and trusted me, and those kids invested a lot into that program. Those kids mean the world to me, and they bought into everything I asked them to so, and we had success. Creekview is going to be on the football scene for a long time to come.
