Central Gwinnett hired Cedar Shoals offensive coordinator Larry Harold as its football coach last week, bringing the count to 77 offseason hires among GHSA schools. Harold was Roquan Smith’s high school coach at Macon County.
He’s been an offensive analyst at Tennessee (2020), assistant at Kentucky State (2019) and head coach at Sumter County (2018), Brunswick (2015-16) and Macon County (2012-14), where Smith, the NFL and former Georgia player, starred as a linebacker.
Central, which was 1-9 last season under Jason Thompson, is the seven Gwinnett County public school to name a coach this offseason. The others are Archer (Dante Williams), Berkmar (Cole Meyer), Lanier (Tyler Maloof), Meadowcreek (Todd Wofford), Peachtree Ridge (Matt Helmerich) and Seckinger (Aaron Hill). Seckinger will open this fall.
Seven GHSA jobs remain open statewide. They are Alcovy, Mays, Montgomery County, Pike County, Richmond Academy, Thomasville and Towers.
Thomasville named Jonathan DeLay, a long-time assistant coach, as interim head coach last week after coach Zach Grage took the Lowndes job.
Offseason openings and hires:
ACE Charter - New coach: Keith Hatcher (replacing Sam Zanders)
Adairsville - New coach: Jonathan Cudd (replacing Eric Bishop)
Alcovy - New coach: (replacing Jason Dukes)
Archer - New coach: Dante Williams (replacing Andy Dyer)
B.E.S.T. Academy - New coach: Bernard Goodrum (replacing Josh Moore)
Bacon County - New coach: Mark Wilson (replacing Keth Gosse)
Berkmar - New coach: Cole Meyer (replacing Willie Gary)
Brookstone - New coach: Rance Gillespie (replacing Blair Harrison)
Brunswick - New coach: Garrett Grady (replacing Sean Pender)
Carver-Columbus - New coach: Pierre Coffey (replacing Corey Joyner)
Central Gwinnett - New coach: Larry Harold (replacing Jason Thompson)
Chattahoochee County - New coach: Ryan McKenzie (replacing Pierre Coffey)
Coffee - New coach: Mike Coe (replacing Robby Pruitt)
Colquitt County - New coach: Sean Calhoun (replacing Justin Rodgers)
Cook - New coach: Byron Slack (replacing Jamie Rodgers)
Crisp County - New coach: Lawrence Smith (replacing Miguel Patrick)
Dutchtown - New coach: Niketa Battle (replacing Clifford Fedd)
Eagle’s Landing Christian - New coach: Tanner Rogers (replacing Jonathan Gess)
East Paulding - New coach: Chris Hirschfield (replacing Billy Shackelford)
Flowery Branch - New coach: Jason Tester (replacing Ben Hall)
Gainesville - New coach: Josh Niblett (replacing Heath Webb)
Greene County - New coach: Terrance Banks (replacing Larry Milligan)
Greenville - New coach: Alexander Ogletree (replacing Tyler Wynn)
Groves - New coach: Calvin Wells (replacing James Latimore)
Harris County - New coach: Tommy Watson (replacing Jamie Fox)
Hart County - New coach: Cory Dickerson (replacing Rance Gillespie)
Hebron Christian - New coach: Jonathan Gess (replacing Stan Luttrell)
Heritage-Conyers - New coach: Ryan Andrews (replacing Eddie Snell)
Houston County - New coach: Jeremy Edwards (replacing Ryan Crawford )
Jasper County - New coach: Ashley Henderson (replacing Aaron Pitts)
Jefferson - New coach: Travis Noland (replacing Gene Cathcart)
Jenkins County - New coach: Charley Waters (replacing David Johnson)
Johns Creek - New coach: Drew Connell (replacing Matt Helmerich)
Jordan - New coach: Kadale Jenkins (replacing Dale Overton)
Kell - New coach: Bobby May (replacing Brett Sloan)
Kendrick - New coach: Robert Martin (replacing Andre Slappey)
Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe - New coach: Mac Bryan (replacing Bo Campbell)
Lambert - New coach: Marc Beach (replacing Tommy Watson)
Lanier - New coach: Tyler Maloof (replacing Korey Mobbs)
Locust Grove - New coach: Garry Fisher (replacing Mark Miller)
Lowndes - New coach: Zach Grage (replacing Jamie DuBose)
Lumpkin County - New coach: Heath Webb (replacing Caleb Sorrells)
Mays - New coach: Open (replacing NiKeta Battle)
McIntosh - New coach: Derek Smith (replacing Lee Belknap)
Meadowcreek - New coach: Todd Wofford (replacing Terrence Banks)
Midtown - New coach: Darrell Howard (replacing Kevin Clark)
Milton - New coach: Ben Reaves (replacing Adam Clack)
Montgomery County - New coach: Open (replacing Tim Suttles)
Mount de Sales - New coach: Gray Yates (replacing Keith Hatcher)
Mount Paran Christian - New coach: Matt Ely (replacing Mitch Jordan)
Mundy’s Mill - New coach: Earthwind Moreland (replacing Dewayne Davis)
Murray County - New coach: Kurt Napier (replacing Chadwick Brewer)
North Hall - New coach: Sean Pender (replacing David Bishop)
Oconee County - New coach: Ben Hall (replacing Travis Noland)
Ola - New coach: Tom Causey (replacing Ryan Angel)
Pace Academy - New coach: Nick Bach (replacing Chris Slade)
Pataula Charter - New coach: Daniel McFather (replacing Matt Fowler)
Paulding County - New coach: Umbrah Brown (replacing Van Spence)
Peachtree Ridge - New coach: Matt Helmerich (replacing Reggie Stancil)
Pelham - New coach: Leonard Guyton (replacing Ashton Landing )
Pike County - New coach: Open (replacing Brad Webber)
Providence Christian - New coach: Joey Sturdivant (replacing Jonathan Beverly)
Rabun County - New coach: Michael Davis (replacing Jaybo Shaw)
Richmond Academy - New coach: Open (replacing Lyle Burns)
Ridegland - New coach: Craig Pritchett (replacing Kip Klein)
Riverwood - New coach: Michael Young (replacing Robert Edwards)
Seckinger - New coach: Aaron Hill (replacing N/A)
Stratford Academy - New coach: Chance Jones (replacing Mark Farriba)
Sumter County - New coach: Clifford Fedd (replacing Ross Couch)
Taylor County - New coach: Brandon Byram (replacing Robert Yevak)
Temple - New coach: Cory Nix (replacing Scotty Ward)
Thomas County Central - New coach: Justin Rogers (replacing Ashley Henderson)
Thomasville - New coach: Open (replacing Zach Grage)
Towers - New coach: Open (replacing Michael Johnson)
Tucker - New coach: Wayne Jones (replacing James Thomson)
Turner County - New coach: Ben Simmons (replacing Kevious Johnson)
Veterans - New coach: Josh Ingram (replacing Milan Turner)
Washington County - New coach: Robert Edwards (replacing Joel Ingram)
Wayne County - New coach: Jaybo Shaw (replacing Ken Cribb)
West Laurens - New coach: Kip Burdette (replacing Kagan McClain)
Westlake - New coach: Rico Zackery (replacing Bobby May)
White County - New coach: Chad Bennett (replacing Tim Cokely)
Woodland-Cartersville - New coach: Brandon Haywood (replacing Tony Plott)
Worth County - New coach: Jeff Hammond (replacing Philip Ironside)
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