Six winning GIAA programs have new head coaches
Number of hires: 6
Best hire: Chad Campbell, Peach County
Hardest to replace: Bert Brown, Brentwood
Best job: First Presbyterian
Toughest job: None. All are winning programs.
Most interesting: Campbell retired from public schools in December and took the job at Westfield in Perry days later. Campbell joins Tiftarea Academy’s Erik Soliday and Brookstone’s Rance Gillespie as former state-winning coaches in the GHSA now leading GIAA programs.
*Brentwood promoted defensive coordinator Adam Lord to replace Bert Brown, who semi-retired. Lord, an alumnus, is also the school’s athletic director and boys basketball coach. He’s been at Brentwood since 2018 and coached previously at Edmund Burke Academy, John Milledge Academy and George Walton Academy. Former coach Brown was 168-110-4 in 23 seasons. He won state titles in 2002, 2003 and 2021 and was runner-up three times. He continues to teach at the school and coach the middle school team.
*First Presbyterian promoted associate head coach Brett Collier to replace Greg Moore, who remained as athletic director and baseball coach. Collier has been at First Presbyterian for four seasons. He was the defensive coordinator for two GHSA champions at Eagle’s Landing Christian. Moore’s record was 163-110 with six region titles in 23 seasons.
*Fullington Academy hired Valwood assistant head coach Brian Breland to replace Stacy Harden, who retired from teaching and joined Westfield’s staff. Breland started coaching at age 19 at Valwood while a student at Valdosta State and was part of three region titles and a state title there. He was Fullington’s head coach in 2020 before returning to Valwood for the past two seasons. Fullington was 8-4 and reached the Class A semifinals last season under Harden, who was Breland’s high school coach at Perry.
*Robert Toombs Christian promoted offensive coordinator Matt Meeks to replace Jacob Lord, who is now defensive coordinator at Statesboro. This will be Meeks’ fourth season at Robert Toombs. Meeks, a former Valdosta State quarterback under Chris Hatcher, has been an offensive coordinator at Thomas Jefferson Academy and Bulloch Academy, winning four consecutive state titles at those schools. He also spent four years coaching at Calvary Day, his alma mater. Robert Toombs was 9-24 in Lord’s three seasons but 7-5 with a Class A runner-up finish in 2022.
*Valwood promoted offensive coordinator Brad Wells to replace Justin Henderson, who became head coach at Scintilla Charter Academy. Wells is a former Berrien player who was part of Shorter’s first football recruiting class in 2014. His first job was on Berrien’s staff. He came to Valwood last season. Valwood was 32-28 in five seasons under Henderson.
*Westfield hired Peach County coach Chad Campbell to replace Rob Fitzpatrick, who remained as head baseball coach. Campbell’s Peach teams were 168-38 in 16 seasons with one state and 10 region titles. Westfield was 20-12-1 in three seasons under Fitzpatrick and 5-6 in 2022.
