Rick Tomberlin is perhaps best known for his days at Washington County, where his teams won three state championships in the 1990s. That and his 246 career victories, which put him in the top 30 in GHSA history.
Now, Tomberlin might be the winningest Georgia coach to come out of retirement twice.
Tomberlin was approved Monday night to become head football coach and athletics at his alma mater, Appling County, his alma mater.
Tomberlin’s record in 31 seasons as a head coach is 246-119. He retired the first time after the 2012 season at Effingham County and returned in 2016 to lead Calvary Day to a region title.
Tomberlin then stepped down again, disclosing that he had been diagnosed an irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure and experienced discomfort late in the 2016 season. Tomberlin, 60, told WJCL-TV in Savannah, the first to report his hiring, that he'd lost weight, gotten in shape and was ready to get back to work.
The Appling County job will be Tomberlin’s ninth as a head coach. Only Brent Miller of Miller County, with 10 different schools as head coach, has more.
Appling County has declined in its victory total each season since winning Region 1-AAA in 2013 and finished 3-6 last season under Jon Lindsey, who has taken a job on the staff at Coffee.
The Appling County job is among 77 that have come open since the 2017 season ended. Here are those, which is still far short of the roughly 105 from a season ago.
ACE Charter: Jason Stephens
Americus-Sumter: Larry Harold
Apalachee: Tony Lotti
Appling County: Rick Tomberlin
Armuchee: Jeremy Green
Banks County: Open
Berkmar: Willie Gary
Berrien: Tim Alligood
Bowdon: Richard Fendley
Brantley County: Geoff Cannon
Bryan County: Abram Scott
Carver (Columbus): Corey Joyner
Central (Macon): Open
Cherokee Bluff: Tommy Jones
Crawford County: Jhon Smith
Creekview: Adam Carter
Dacula: Clint Jenkins
Denmark: Terry Crowder
Dougherty: Damien Gary
East Laurens: Bin Turner
Fannin County: Chad Cheatham
Franklin County: Paul Sutherland
Gainesville: Heath Webb
Grady: Kevin Clark
Greene County: Larry Milligan
Harris County: Open
Hiram: Pete Fominaya
Howard: Open
Johnson (Savannah): Kenderrick Bonner
Jordan: Open
Kendrick: Andre Slappey
Kennesaw Mountain: Caleb Carmean
King's Ridge Christian: Jeff Pickren
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate: Open
LaFayette: Paul Ellis
LaGrange: Chuck Gibbs
Landmark Christian: Joe Scott
Lanier County: Kurt Williams
Lincoln County: Michael Pollock
McIntosh County Academy: Tony Glazer
Metter: Rodney Garvin
Miller Grove: Lee Hannah
Model: Richard Ross
Mountain View: Rob Kellogg
North Atlanta: Open
North Paulding: Jim Bob Bryant
Northgate: Mike McDonald
Northside (Columbus): Dave Nurnberg
Oglethorpe County: Ronnie Harris
Pataula Charter: Open
Putnam County: Shaun Pope
Redan: Open
Ridgeland: Courtney Braswell
Riverdale: Corey Jarvis
Riverwood: Robert Edwards
Rockdale County: Jamie Baldwin
Savannah Christian: Baker Woodward
South Paulding: Jason Thompson
Southeast Bulloch: Barrett Davis
Spencer: Open
St. Francis: Frank Barden
Stephens County: Wesley Tankersley
Stewart County: Open
Thomas County Central: Ashley Henderson
Thomson: Michael Youngblood
Treutlen: Steve Versprille
Tri-Cities: Innis Claud
Twiggs County: Kelvin Blackshear
Veterans: Milan Turner
Walnut Grove: Robert Andrews
West Hall: Krofton Montgomery
Westover: Olten Downs
Wheeler County: Timothy McArthur
Whitefield Academy: Coleman Joiner
Wilcox County: Ken Cofer
Winder-Barrow: Ed Dudley
Worth County: Open
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