Every year some turnover is expected, no matter the sport, whether it be with personnel or at the top.
But the coaching carousel that got going after the 2017-18 prep basketball season in the offseason was unparalleled in the northeast Georgia area.
A Baker’s Dozen of new coaches, counting both boys and girls program, will be roaming the sidelines of area programs when the 2018-19 season gets under way beginning on Tuesday.
Nov. 13 is the first day teams can officially open their season and a handful of teams will get under way then. Many more will open later in the week and some will not start until later in the month.
The opening of the new Cherokee Bluff school in Hall County and Benjie Wood deciding to leave Gainesville to take over the new program prompted a few domino effects. The Red Elephants were the only boys team in the area to advance past the second round last year falling to Hughes in the Class 6A state title game.
In all, seven new boys coaches are heading northeast Georgia programs. Six new coaches will be leading girls programs.
Perhaps the most stunning change was longtime East Hall assistant and then head coach Joe Dix stepping down from the Vikings to take the Collins Hill job in Gwinnett County. Dix was an assistant under the legendary Seth Vining and the two led the Vikings for more than 30 seasons combined and each won a state title as head coach. East Hall assistant Seth Thompson was promoted to take over for Dix.
At Gainesville, Chuck Graham was hired to replace Wood. The Red Elephants are coming off one of their best two-year runs ever advancing to the Elite 8 in 2017 and losing a heartbreaker in the Class 6A championship game last season.
The Flowery Branch boys, fresh off their first playoff win since 2008, saw David Sokol leave for North Forsyth and the Falcons brought in former East Hall standout Chezley Watson, who was the assistant the last three seasons for the Jefferson girls.
It is the first head coaching job for Watson, who said the Falcons may be in a transition period after the school split to create Cherokee Bluff.
“Several of the kids that were at Branch stayed in the area that’s Cherokee Bluff so we lost some kids that would have been starters for us,” Watson said. “We’ll be very inexperienced. We’re looking at six freshmen and probably eight sophomores, with only two kids in the system with any varsity experience, so right now my focus is to see what we have in talent and begin developing our players.
“We’re not setting any real expectations on anything right now. We also have seven or eight kids on the football team so it probably won’t be until the region schedule starts before we truly know where we are as a program. But that being said, I am very excited about having this opportunity and we’re just ready to get the season going.”
Other boys programs sporting new coaches are David Adcock at Rabun County. He is the son of the late Mike Adcock, who coached at Rabun County nearly a decade ago.
Brandon Pickell takes over at Johnson and is the third boys head coach since Jeff Steele left for Lumpkin County in 2015 after 16 years in Oakwood.
And White County has a new coach in Wade Mawdesley after Sam Borg stepped down to take a non-basketball position at North Hall.
The area girls teams have six new coaches heading up programs.
The most prominent is Gainesville, where former White County Athletic Director Alan Griffin takes over for Brenda Hill-Gilmore, who took the Monroe Area position.
The Lady Red Elephants may be in an early transition period but a boost in participation with 20 girls now in the varsity system and 25 in the middle school program should make for a quick turnaround for a storied program that has not won a playoff game since 2015.
“The numbers (of girls in the system) are way up across the board and that is the most exciting thing,” Griffin said. “New assistant coach Katie Davis has been instrumental in helping us get to where we want and need to be to be a competitive program again.
“We have some talented players in the system but right now we’re still getting to know each. There will be a little transition period but we’re really excited about where we’re headed as a program already.”
Jefferson, which advanced to the Elite 8 in Class 4A last season, saw its longtime coach Jason Gibson take the Athletic Director position at Dawson County. Greg Brown will take over the Lady Dragons, who also moved down to Class 3A this season and will be in the ultra-competitive Region 8-3A with Morgan County, Franklin County, and what should a quickly building East Jackson team.
Speaking of East Jackson, the Lady Eagles sport a new coach in Donnie Byrom, who has over 300 career wins and has guided four different teams to the playoffs.
West Hall also has a new head lady in charge with former Gainesville girls assistant Shawana Harrison, who takes over for Bryan Richerson, who guided the Lady Spartans to the Elite 8 in Class 3A in 2016 and the second round in Class 4A in 2017 before losing to eventual state champion Columbus in a game they led in the second half.
Jared Hodge moved from coaching the baseball team at Johnson to taking over the Lady Knights.
And Lindsay Justice is the inaugural coach of the Cherokee Bluff girls, who will be playing in Region 7-3A.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/11/731238/area-hoops-coaching-carousel-unparalleled-for-2018-19-season