Savannah Country Day hires coach; Spalding closing in

Savannah Country Day hired a football coach Monday while Spalding is expected to approve one Tuesday, which would add up to 67 offseason hires with four jobs still open in Georgia.

Savannah Country Day settled on Roc Batten, a former Vanderbilt player who has been a head coach for 13 seasons in the Nashville area. He coached five years at Ensworth and eight at Battle Ground Academy. He led Battle Ground to a 2016 state title.

Batten will replace John Mohrning, who is now Wayne County’s head coach. Savannah Country Day was 7-4 in Class 3A last season.

Spalding, coming off its first region title in 20 years, will have a new coach Tuesday evening pending board approval. The candidate has not been announced publicly but is expected to be a current head coach.

Spalding was 12-1 last season in Class 4A under Carl Kearney, who is charged with murder in the February strangling death of Patrina Best.

Brooks County’s Maurice Freeman, who won 250 games in 30 Georgia seasons, announced Friday that he is officially headed to Alabama to coach at Daleville. He resigned at Brooks earlier this month.

Daleville is a Class 4A school that has won just seven games over the past four seasons. Freeman won state titles in 1994 and 2021 at Brooks County and was the third-leading active GHSA coach in victories.

Click here for a complete list of head coaching hires and openings.