JEFFERSON — Jefferson High School announced on Thursday that it is promoting Gene Cathcart to take over as head coach of the Dragons football team.
Cathcart served as the team's offensive coordinator under former coach Ben Hall, who recently left Jefferson to take control of Flowery Branch's program.
Cathcart has coached at a number of schools, including Habersham Central. During his time in charge, 2003-2008, he led the Raiders to a 40-27 record, two of the school's five region championships (2006 and 07) and back-to-back state quarterfinal appearances (06-07).
He left Habersham to go take the Greenwood High School (S.C) job from 2009-2013. He compiled a 58-12 record with four region championships, three state championship game appearances, and one state title. Cathcart, in 12 years as a head coach in Georgia and South Carolina has posted a 109-39 record.
Jefferson Schools Superintendent Dr. John Jackson said they wanted to keep the continuity of the last eight years going and realized they had just the person already on staff.
"Gene is a great football coach and we felt like with him already being here and knowing the system and the players that it was the perfect fit," Dr. Jackson said. "We're very excited to have him be able to take over our program."
Jefferson is coming off a Region 8-AAAA championship and state semifinal appearance and will return several key pieces of that program, including running back Colby Wood and quarterback Colby Clark.
Hall left the program after four seasons in charge, including a 44-8 record, two region championships, one state semifinal appearance and two quarterfinal berths. Prior to that Hall served as Jefferson's offensive coordinator for its 2012 team that won the Class AA championship.
