Villa Rica’s Barron retires; South Atlanta’s Woolridge is leaving

Villa Rica coach Tim Barron, best known for his seven region championships and 2018 Class 2A title at Heard County, is retiring, joining a list of about a dozen coaches to hang up their whistles this offseason.

On Monday, South Atlanta posted an opening, meaning that Michael Woolridge is leaving after two seasons with two region titles and a 23-2 record.

Those announcements brought to 85 the number of GHSA coaching openings overall since the 2022 season closed.

Barron will be replaced by his son, Austin Barron, one of 64 new hires.

That leaves 21 openings. Among them are Allatoona, Parkview, Sandy Creek and Pebblebrook. None has made an announcement, but each is expected to get board approval this month to hire 2022 GHSA head coaches who have resigned in anticipation of their next moves.

(Updated: This week, Allatoona has hired Brad Smith from Loganville; Pebblebrook has hired Michael Woolridge from South Atlanta; and Parkview has hired Joe Sturdivant from Providence Christian.)

Meanwhile, Barron joins an impressive list of notable retirees that includes Sandy Creek’s Brett Garvin, Allatoona’s Gary Varner, Burke County’s Eric Parker, Jefferson County’s J.B Arnold, Statesboro’s Jeff Kaiser and Darlington’s Tommy Atha.

Barron, Garvin, Varner and Parker all won state titles. Another with a state title who retired from public schools was Peach County’s Chad Campbell, though he’s still working after taking over at Westfield, a GIAA school in Perry.

Barron’s 24-year coaching record was 176-100. His Villa Rica teams were 9-3 and 4-6 in two seasons.

Click here for a complete list of head coaching openings.