First-year head coaches making immediate impacts

Seventy-eight of the GHSA’s 415 football-playing schools have first-year head coaches, a couple since the season started.

Here is a look at several that have made immediate impacts.

Their backgrounds are varied, but many have coached in state championship games recently.

Pike County’s Stephen Holmes, Lithonia’s Kevin Barnes and Cambridge’s Tyler Jones were members of state runner-up staffs last season. Their new teams are a combined 15-4.

Greenbrier’s Sean Tiernan won a championship with Thomson in 2022, and Westover’s Corey Joyner was a head coach in a championship game with Carver of Columbus the year before that. Miller County's Tom Causey and Dodge County's Phillip Brown won state titles in other states before coming here.

Here’s a closer look at some of the quick builders.

*Kevin Barnes, Lithonia: Coming off 1-9 and 0-10 finishes, the Bulldogs are 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Region 5-4A with an excellent shot at their first winning season since 2018. Barnes, a graduate of nearby Redan, had been an assistant at Stockbridge for six seasons and Newton for the previous six. He also was the track-and-field coach at both schools and won a boys state title in 2016. Barnes played arena football and served in the Air Force before settling into coaching.

*Phillip Brown, Dodge County: The Indians are 7-0, their best start since 2017, after a 1-9 finish a year ago. Brown had been Valdosta’s linebackers/special teams coordinator. He began his coaching career in his native Louisiana with state power Destrehan and won state titles in 2007 and 2008. Brown came to Georgia in 2016 to join Rush Propst’s Colquitt County’s staff. Brown was named the Atlanta Falcons’ coach of the week last month for his off-the-field good works.

*Tom Causey, Miller County: The Pirates upset eight-point favorite Seminole County 24-0 last week to improve to 5-2, which is already one victory better than last year’s 4-6 finish. Causey has a 146-104 record in Alabama and won a 2009 Class 5A championship at Demopolis. He came to Ola in Henry County in 2022 and was 13-9 in Class 5A’s toughest region.

*Dustin Canon, East Forsyth: The Broncos, in their fourth varsity season, promoted defensive coordinator Canon to finish the work of program founder Brian Allison, who retired. Canon has been with East Forsyth from the start. He has been on staffs at Effingham County and alma mater Forsyth Central. East Forsyth was 7-4 in 2023, the school’s first winning season, and is now 6-1.

*Adam Holley, Cherokee: The Warriors hired Calhoun offensive coordinator Holley, who has doubled the Warriors’ 2023 victory total with a 4-3 record. It’s not far from 7-0 as the Warriors have lost three games by eight points or fewer, including last week’s 28-27 heartbreaker at Wheeler. Holley has worked only for winners – Calhoun, Cartersville, Whitewater and Lee County – in his 10-year career. Holley is a former player at Starr’s Mill and West Georgia.

*Stephen Holmes, Pike County: Winless a year ago, the Pirates are 4-2 under Holmes, who led Manchester to the Class Division II final last season. Pike County could attain its first playoff berth or winning season since 2018. Holmes, a Carroll County native, has coached at eight Georgia schools, including a previous Pike County stint. His Manchester teams were 25-11 in three seasons.

*Tyler Jones, Cambridge: The Bears are 7-0 for the first time in a history that dates to 2012. Jones was Class 7A runner-up Walton’s offensive coordinator last season. Jones was offensive coordinator at River Ridge for two seasons and helped the Knights win their only region title in history in 2020. Jones is a former Social Circle quarterback who led his alma mater to its only region title in 2005.

*Corey Joyner, Westover: The Patriots are 6-1, their best start in a history that dates to the 1960s while exceeding their victory total of 2023. Last week’s victory over Bainbridge broke a six-game losing streak in that series. An Albany native and former Georgia Southern player, Joyner was head coach at Carver of Columbus when the Tigers reached the 2021 Class 4A final. He surprisingly stepped down there and came home to Albany to join Westover’s staff. Joyner’s younger brother, Uyl, is the head coach at crosstown Dougherty, their alma mater.

*Zach Slaney, King's Ridge Christian: King’s Ridge is 6-1, which represents a school record for victories in a season and clinches a winning record over a 10-game season for the first time. The team was 4-3 last season under Terry Crowder, who retired. Slaney was Holy Innocents’ offensive coordinator and had been on staffs at Pace Academy (2018-20) and alma mater Heritage of Newnan (2015-17).

*Sean Tiernan, Greenbrier: The Wolfpack is just 2-2, but a closer look reveals a vastly improved team from those that went 1-9 and 0-10 the past two seasons. Greenbrier lost to Harlem in overtime and to Class 5A ninth-ranked Brunswick by seven points while avenging 2023 losses to Grovetown and Statesboro. Tiernan was Thomson’s offensive coordinator. He’s been on staffs for two state-winning teams (2022 Thomson, 2011 Burke County), not to mention Greenbrier’s 1999 state-winning baseball team. He was the Wolfpack’s catcher.

A few others: Harrison, under Luqman Salam, the coach who pulled Osborne out of the deep ditch the past couple of years, is 5-1 with the Hoyas. They ended a 10-game losing streak to McEachern and can win their first region title since 2019. ... Ola (5-1) just lost a tough one to Stockbridge, but Dustin Adkins still has a chance to lead the Mustangs to their best finish ever. ... Wheeler County, under Thomas Smith, is 5-1 with victories over Dooly County and Hawkinsville, region rivals that beat Wheeler County last season. ... Starr’s Mill, a Class 4A semifinalist last season, is 7-0 under David Cooper. ... Clinch County, in the return of five-time state champion coach Jim Dickerson, is 5-0. ... Taking over programs that just had great seasons often means undue pressure, but handling those challenges particularly well are Stockbridge’s Kendrick Callier (6-1), Camden County’s Travis Roland (5-1) and Manchester’s Demonta Prather (5-1).