As has been the case in every campaign of recent years, several northeast Georgia programs -- six to be exact -- are sporting new head coaches as the 2016 season dawns.
Banks County, Chestatee, East Jackson, Lumpkin County, North Forsyth, and Towns County all are under new management, as they say. For four of the six -- Josh Shoemaker (Banks County), Shaun Conley (Chestatee), Christian Hunnicutt (East Jackson), John Cornett (Towns County) -- it will be a first season as a head coach.
Here is a quick look at each of the six new program leaders (listed in alphabetical order by school):
JOSH SHOEMAKER (BANKS COUNTY)
While new to the head coaching ranks, Shoemaker is no stranger to the Leopards, having spent the past three seasons as an assistant in Homer (last year as the offensive line coach). He felt his familiarity would be an asset as Banks tries to improve on 5-5 records each of the past two years.
“It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Shoemaker said just before the start of the fall practice season. “I know the kids and they know me, and we’re not really changing up too much as far as schemes and things. It’s a little different knowing that I now have to run everything and be in the loop on everything. That’s the biggest challenge but so far things have gone well.”
Shoemaker did take on the added responsibility of staying on as the offensive line coach to try and rebuild a line that lost its entire starting five from 2015.
“I had worked with a lot of the younger kids last year and I felt it would be an easier transition since I would not have to teach a new coach our scheme,” he said. “It keeps me coaching some, but it’s added a challenge in that sometimes I lose time having to handle other responsibilities. But, overall, it’s worked out so far. We’re all just ready to get to the start of the season.”
SHAUN CONLEY (CHESTATEE)
Conley is no stranger to winning after successful stints at both Flowery Branch and Peachtree Ridge as an assistant. The first-time head coach is hoping he can bring a winning attitude to Chestatee, which has fallen on hard times going just 1-19 over the past two seasons.
"I want this program to be thought of as a program of high character; do that and the wins and losses take care of themselves," said Conley, who inherited a team that could not consolidate historic gains of 2012-13 in which it went 17-6. "Our goal is to create great community members for Chestatee."
Conley is bringing a complete overhaul to the War Eagles, switching away from an option run attack to a spread base. And there could be growing pains as they try to change the personnel’s mindset.
"We don't ever mention wins and losses right now; we just tell the kids that we want to see them be better on the next play," Conley said. "We're just going to control what we can control and see where that takes us.”
CHRISTIAN HUNNICUTT (EAST JACKSON)
The Eagles’ Christian Hunnicutt is also taking on his first head coaching job and faces a tough task with a program that has won just nine total games since a 10-2 campaign in 2009.
The former Grayson and Buford assistant said the new staff came in not focusing on the past but what was needed to get the program back to competitiveness.
“It all starts with strength and conditioning and that was the first main area we noticed that we needed to build up,” Hunnicutt said. “No matter what level of competition you’re at, that has to be a point of emphasis. Brady Sigler is our strength and conditioning coach and our defensive coordinator and he is one of the best. He’s been at Cedar Shoals, Clarke Central, and Elbert County and you see the success those programs have had over the years.
“I really think we have made a lot of improvement since we got here. But, we’re still not where we need to be progam-wise. It’s not going to happen in one year, but I do feel like we’re going to be competitive and bring back confidence to the program.”
The Eagles will return 11 starters and a lot of senior leadership but new system installations and building confidence are sure to be early challenges for Hunnicutt and his staff.
“Those are big keys for us,” he said. “We’re really just trying to instill and sell a new system and a successful way of doing things to everyone involved with the program. These kids are hungry for some success.
“The bond between the position coaches and the players has to be strong so that they can build confidence in themselves. We have some talented players. Our goal is finding where they will be the most successful and then teaching them how to be.”
SHANE WILLIAMSON (LUMPKIN COUNTY)
Shane Williamson moved up the road from Forsyth Central to Dahlonega and could be one of the best hires in the state over the offseason. The new Indians coach has a career 78-71-2 record over 15 seasons with stops in Swainsboro, Toombs County and the past three seasons in Cumming.
He has taken two different teams to the state quarterfinals -- Swainsboro in 2003 and Toombs County in 2008 -- and has taken six teams to the playoffs overall, however, none since that 2008 season.
Still, he did not shy away from saying the Indians may be on the verge of becoming a consistent winner.
"There's a great opportunity to develop a winning program here," he said. "The support here is tremendous from both the school leadership and community, and the facilities are as good as you'll find, especially for a school this size. I've also been pleasantly surprised by the athletic ability of the players here."
ROBERT CRAFT (NORTH FORSYTH)
Like Williamson at Lumpkin County, North Forsyth pulled off a strong hire in Robert Craft, who spent the last six years building North Florida Christian into a powerhouse in Tallahassee, Fla.
In his six years at North Florida, Craft was 49-21 with five state playoff appearances, including a Class AA title in 2011 (13-0).
The Raiders were hit hard the last two seasons by injury after a playoff run in 2013. Craft said he found plenty to work with when he arrived in Coal Mountain and said just getting high expectations back is a key area for the program’s development.
“Coach (Jason) Gault did a great job and the administration is outstanding so it wasn’t really about undoing a lot of things,” he said. “It’s really been more about raising the expectations across the board. It’s very similar to when I started at North Florida, and it took a couple of years but we were able to build a consistent program. That’s our goal here.”
Craft also is no stranger to Georgia football having coached at Colquitt County before his time in Tallahassee.
“I had always wanted to come back and coach in Georgia, and I thought this was a great opportunity at a place where we have the facilities to build a winning program,” Craft said. “The kids have done everything we’ve asked of them since we got here. That’s all you can ask for.”
JOHN CORNETT (TOWNS COUNTY)
Cornett may have the toughest job in the state in trying to turn around a Towns County program that -- according to Georgia High School Football Historians.org -- has had just one winning season (7-3 in 2008) in its history.
Yet despite the lopsided numbers in the program’s history -- Towns is just 58-333-1 overall -- nearly half of the Indians' wins have come since 2008 (25), building hope that a break-out is on the horizon.
Instead of focusing on wins and losses from the start, Cornett said he wanted his charges to go back to the beginning.
"We want our kids to have fun, and we want them to treat this game for what it is -- high school football; that's all it is, and we want our kids to see it that way," he said. "If they do that, they will have fun, and they'll want to come out and play."
The Indians also saw the numbers increase with 42 dressing out for the beginning of the fall practice season, including 15 seniors, and Cornett said that was a great start to his time in Hiawassee.
"These guys have all been together since kindergarten, and they know they have what it takes to get this thing going," Cornett said. "These guys are working so hard, and they're so hungry to be successful. And they're already starting to have fun."
