TOCCOA — Frank Barden stepped down Friday as Stephens County head football coach and the school's Athletic Director.
Barden spent the last four sesons as Indians head coach after 18 years at Cartersville, where he won a Class AA state title in 1999 with an undefeated season.
The Indians did not make the playoffs in 2017 after advancing each of the three previous seasons and the latest campaign for the Indians began in horrible fashion as a car crash killed two players and injured two others just weeks before the season opener.
Barden said despite the negative beginning, none of that played into his decision on Friday.
"This season was tough because of that but that did not factor into this at all," Barden said. "These kids really showed a lot of heart and toughness being able to come back from something like that. We finished strong but we came up a little short.
"But I just had an awesome time here. The people are great, the kids are great, and I feel fortunate to have been able to be a part of the community."
Barden coached for 34 seasons -- the last 24 as a head coach at Pickens (2 years), Carterville (18 seasons), and the last four at Stephens County. He was an assistant for seven seasons (1986-94) in Toccoa before taking the Pickens job in 1994. He stopped short of saying it was an official retirement but said he has no immediate plans to coach again.
"I won't ever say never but right now I felt like it was time to step down," he said. "I don't have any real plans to do anything. I'm just going to kind of wing it for now. But I'm looking forward to being able to look into some new things, whatever those things may be. Whatever God has in store for me."
Barden went 189-87-1 in his 24 years as a head coach. The highlights were obvious, he said.
"First, being able to coach both of my sons at Cartersville. That was awesome," he said. "Then, of course, being fortunate enough to win a state title. But really just getting to coach all those kids over the years and then seeing them become successful afterwards is always rewarding."
There's been no word from Stephens County officials as to who they will look to to fill both positions as of Friday afternoon.
