GHSF Daily presents trophies to Hudl Improvement Tracker Coaches of the Year
On hand for the presentation of the Hudl Improvement Tracker Coaches of the Year trophies were (from left) Hudl’s Nate Greene, Robert Toombs Academy coach Jacob Lord, Carrollton coach Joey King, Thomas County Central coach Justin Rogers, Northside-Columbus coach Andrew Oropeza, Wayne County coach Jaybo Shaw, Lumpkin County coach Heath Webb, Hudl’s Brandon Hedgecock, Spencer coach Joe Kegler, Wilkinson County coach Keldrick Burke, St Francis coach Frank Barden and GHSF Daily’s Todd Holcomb.
Georgia High School Football Daily presented its Improvement Tracker state Coach of the Year awards to nine coaches Tuesday at the annual Atlanta Falcons Luncheon in Macon. The award sponsor is Hudl.
The annual event, put on by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association, recognizes coaches that win state and region championships. Coaches from several college teams also attended. Those included Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, Florida’s Billy Napier, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.
Here were GHSF Daily’s winners in each class:
*Joey King/Carrollton (Class 7A): The Trojans were 14-1 and reached the state final despite being unranked in all six preseason polls after coming up from Class 6A.
*Justin Rogers/Thomas County Central (Class 6A): The Yellow Jackets hadn’t had a winning season since 2016 and moved up two classifications into 6A but finished 12-1 in Rogers’ first season in Thomasville and achieved their first 10-win season since 2009.
*Andrew Oropeza/Northside-Columbus (Class 5A): Northside, a 19-year-old school, achieved its first 10-win season and region title in history and earned its first playoff victory since 2005.
*Jaybo Shaw/Wayne County (Class 4A): Winless in 2021, Wayne County finished 10-3, making it one of three programs in history to go from 0 to 10 wins in one year.
*Heath Webb/Lumpkin County (Class 3A): Lumpkin County finished 8-3, which marked the most victories in a season for the program since 1976 while also setting a school record for points in a season (386 overall, 35.1 per game). This was achieved in Webb’s first season.
*Joe Kegler/Spencer (Class 2A): Spencer, a Columbus school coached by a Columbus native, won its first region title since 1968. Kegler became coach in 2021; the previous team was 1-9.
*Frank Barden/St. Francis (Class A D-I): Barden was hired in 2018 to build a program that had never won a playoff game. In 2022, St. Francis won 10 games and reached the semifinals, each for the first time in school history.
*Keldrick Burke/Wilkinson County (Class A D-II): Burke led Wilkinson County to its first winning season in seven years and its first playoff victory since 2017.
*Jacob Lord/Robert Toombs Academy (GIAA): Lord, hired in 2020, inherited only 13 players and didn’t win a game. Two seasons later, Robert Toombs played for the GIAA’s Class A championship and achieved its first playoff victory since 2017.