South Paulding, Paulding County and Taylor County announced new football coaches this week, and Tucker’s coach is headed back to Florida.
Offseason coaching openings are up to 41 with 12 filled.
South Paulding hired its interim coach, Eric Robinson, who took over the program after two games this season and won seven of the last nine, including a 34-32 upset of No. 8 Rome in Class 6A.
Paulding County promoted defensive coordinator Umbrah Brown to replace Van Spence, who had been on the job since 2016. Paulding County was 3-7 in 2021.
East Paulding, a third Paulding County school with an opening, is expected approved an unnamed candidate at a school board meeting Jan. 11.
Also this week, Taylor County hired Brandon Byram from Cairo’s staff. Taylor County was 3-6 last season under two coaches.
Tucker coach James Thomson is leaving after one season to become head coach of Winter Haven in his native Florida. Thomson was 2-9 at Tucker.
Murray County will be looking for a new coach after Chad Brewer stepped down after nine seasons. Murray was 6-4 in 2016 for its first winning season since 2005 but hasn’t had another.
This has been the busiest week of offseason changes.
On Monday, four schools announced new schools with Gainesville hiring Josh Niblett, Lumpkin County hiring Heath Webb, Cook hiring Byron Slack and Temple hiring Cory Nix.
Houston County, Ridgeland and Greene County also have new coaches, and North Hall and Meadowcreek have openings.
Below are the 41 openings with former coach with new coach if hired. It does not include 2021 interim coaches such as Robinson or Valdosta’s Shelton Felton if they were announced as permanent.
ACE Charter: Sam Zanders (Keith Hatcher)
Adairsville: Eric Bishop
B.E.S.T. Academy: Joshua Moore
Bacon County: Keith Gosse
Berkmar: Willie Gary
*Brookstone: Blair Harrison
Colquitt County: Justin Rogers
Cook: Jamie Rodgers (Byron Slack)
East Paulding: Billy Shackelford
Gainesville: Heath Webb (Josh Niblett)
Greene County: Larry Milligan (Terrance Banks)
Heritage (Conyers): Eddie Snell
Houston County: Ryan Crawford (Jeremy Edwards)
Jasper County: Aaron Pitts
Kell: Brett Sloan (Bobby May)
Lanier: David Willingham
Locust Grove: Mark Miller
Lumpkin County: Caleb Sorrell (Heath Webb)
Meadowcreek: Terrance Banks
*Mount de Sales: Keith Hatcher
McIntosh: Lee Belknap
Midtown: Kevin Clark
Mundy’s Mill: Dwayne Davis
Murray County: Chad Brewer
North Hall: David Bishop
Ola: Ryan Angel
Pace Academy: Chris Slade
Paulding County: Van Spence (Umbrah Brown)
Ridgeland: Kip Klein (Craig Pritchett)
Seckinger: New school
*Stratford Academy: Mark Farriba
Sumter County: Ross Couch
Taylor County: Robert Yevak (Brandon Byram)
Temple: Scott Ward (Cory Nix)
Thomas County Central: Ashley Henderson (Justin Rogers)
Tucker: James Thomson
Washington County: Joel Ingram
Wayne County: Ken Cribb
Westlake: Bobby May
White County: Tim Cokely
Woodland (Cartersville): Tony Plott
*Moving to Georgia Independent School Association
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