Improvement Tracker: Lumpkin County’s turnaround continues to lead state
GHSF Daily each week will rank the top five teams and their head coaches in each classification based on their improvement in the computer Maxwell Ratings from previous seasons, but with some exclusions. Only teams with winning records will be listed. In the end, each team and coach must also make the playoffs and improve playoff seeding or state playoff finish from the previous year to qualify. The objective is to recognize not only improvement but the challenge of making a struggling program relevant on the state level or taking a good program to the next level. After the season, GHSF Daily will present an award, sponsored by Hudl, to the nine coaches who lead their classifications. The recognition will take place at the GACA Falcons Luncheon on Jan. 31 in Macon.
Class 7A
+26.40 - Osborne (Luqman Salam)
+20.64 - Valdosta (Shelton Felton)
+18.14 - Central Gwinnett (Larry Harold)
+18.03 - Lambert (Marc Beach)
+15.14 - Meadowcreek (Todd Wofford)
Class 6A
+28.90 - Thomas County Central (Justin Rogers)
+22.85 - Houston County (Jeremy Edwards)
+20.20 - Gainesville (Josh Niblett)
+13.43 - Paulding County (Umbrah Brown)
+12.94 - Dunwoody (Michael Nash)
Class 5A
+25.56 - Loganville (Brad Smith)
+19.02 - North Springs (Jeff Phillips)
+18.82 - Dutchtown (Niketa Battle)
+16.82 - Northside-Columbus (Andrew Oropeza)
+8.06 - Kell (Bobby May)
Class 4A
+22.38 - Hampton (Chad Ashley)
+18.95 - Burke County (Eric Parker)
+18.81 - Pace Academy (Nick Bach)
+18.39 - Wayne County (Jaybo Shaw)
+16.53 - Stockbridge (Thomas Clark)
Class 3A
+38.83 - Lumpkin County (Heath Webb)
+19.50 - Hebron Christian (Jonathan Gess)
+13.47 - Harlem (Mark Boiter)
+13.16 - Dougherty (Johnny Gilbert)
+12.97 - Gilmer (Paul Standard)
Class 2A
+26.25 - Cook (Byron Slack)
+19.13 - Banks County (Jay Reid)
+16.96 - Vidalia (Jason Cameron)
+16.70 - Laney (Ronnie Baker)
+13.55 - ACE Charter (Keith Hatcher)
Class A Division I
+27.27 - Bryan County (Cherard Freeman)
+26.74 - St. Francis (Frank Barden)
+17.70 - Elbert County (Shannon Jarvis)
+14.73 - Mount Pisgah Christian (Ryan Livezey)
+13.99 - Lamar County (Travis Ellington)
Class A Division II
+21.68 - Portal (Jason McEachin)
+13.48 - Greene County (Terrance Banks)
+6.71 - Charlton County (Russ Murray)
+6.12 - Aquinas (James Leonard)
+5.82 - Jenkins County (Charley Waters)
GIAA
+27.39 - Fullington Academy (Stacy Harden)
+23.76 - Bethlehem Christian (Bruce Lane)
+19.19 - Strong Rock Christian (Myron Jackson)
+14.54 - Valwood (Justin Henderson)
+12.28 - Deerfield-Windsor (Jake McCrae)
