Archive for September, 2009

Do you want to know which teams will be down in 2009? If you’re playing the odds, you’ll look for a winning team with a new head coach.

In 2008, there were 17 coaches who inherited programs that had won eight or more games the previous season. None of the 17 won more games than his predecessor. Only two – Coffee’s Ken Eldridge and Harrison’s David Hines – matched the win total of their predecessors.

The other 15 won fewer games, and it most cases, it wasn’t close. New coaches of teams with eight or more victories in 2007 won nearly four victories fewer on average in 2008.

Here are the 15:

Bainbridge (9-4 to 6-4 under Ed Pilcher)
Cedar Shoals (9-2 to 7-5 under Xarvia Smith)
Chamblee (12-2 to 6-5 under Michael Collins)
Coffee (9-3 to 9-4 under Ken Eldridge)
Dalton (9-2 to 7-3 under Adam Winegraden)
Dodge County (9-3 to 2-8 under Lee Campbell)
Douglass (8-4 to 3-7 under Kenny Barrow)
East Coweta (10-2 to 7-4 under Clint Wade)
Fellowship Christian (10-2 to 7-4 under Terry …

Continue reading Georgia High School Football Daily Spotlight: Repeating success tough for coaches in first year at new schools »

Here are five outcomes that surprised the GHSF Daily staff in Week One.

North Gwinnett 14, Prattville (Ala.) 11: Prattville was 43-1 while winning Alabama Class 6A championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and was ranked in almost every national poll. But North Gwinnett was dominant on defense. “This is a marquee win nationally,” North Gwinnett coach Bob Sphire told GHSF Daily. “People will take notice now. People in the state recognize us as a program really competing at a high level, beating some good teams, but also knocking on the door of potential greatness. As far as national significance, this is a game that now all of a sudden the green light goes on when you think of North Gwinnett. We want a nationally respected program.”

South Gwinnett 49, Norcross 28: Norcross coach Keith Maloof returned only four starters on defense but expected little drop-off from a team that held five of 10 regular-season opponents without a touchdown last year. “We should be the same as we’ve been …

Continue reading Georgia High School Football Daily Spotlight: Five big Week One surprises »