Coaching carousel: Dublin’s Holmes transitions to 49%; familiar faces outnumber new additions for Irish

Editor’s note: This is the first in a multi-part series focused on coaching changes at local schools for the upcoming athletic year. 

The Dublin High School athletic office has arguably experienced more upheaval in the coaching ranks this offseason than any other in the county, yet the more things have changed for Irish programs in recent months, the more they’ve really stayed the same. 

Out of about seven personnel moves affecting four major sports at the school for the coming season, only two have involved the hire of new coaches with no previous ties to the school or community. 

In the flurry of changes dating back to the first of the year, assistant coaches were promoted from in-house to fill head coaching vacancies in both baseball and softball, while two out of three additions to the Dublin football coaching staff were transplants from neighboring schools in the area. 

The Irish, in a sense, also re-hired their longest-tenured coach – Roger Holmes – to resume his two decades-plus run leading their football program after a very brief step aside last month to mark a transition from full-time to partially-retired employee. 

The small differences aside, though, Dublin will carry much more continuity than change as it heads full speed into the 2024 school year, with the start of fall seasons just weeks away. 

The Irish softball team, a first club slated to take the field Aug. 5 at Lamar County, will be led by one of those familiar new faces in Emily Barrs, an assistant coach with the program for the past two years who was tapped to take over for Todd Hogan after his abrupt resignation as both softball and baseball head coach back in April. 

“I’ve already been with the girls for two years, so I have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses,” she said in a release. “Because of this, it will give us a leg up on what we need to do this year to be more successful against region competitors.”

Barrs, a West Laurens graduate native to Wrightsville, joined Dublin High upon returning to Middle Georgia in 2022 after a first teaching stop at a private school in Phenix City, Alabama where she coached softball and flag football, and a collegiate playing career at nearby LaGrange, where she was named academic all-conference three times and set the program’s single-season slugging percentage record in 2017. 

Developing chemistry, with team-building activities as a particular summer emphasis, will be a focus of her plans for the program. 

“Yes, we want to build a successful team that wins games,” Barrs said. “But, most importantly, sports can be a great way for the girls to develop life skills. I want them to learn about hard work, teamwork and the right way to work through adversity.”

Longtime West Laurens head coach Brian Brown, who was part of Hogan’s staff all four seasons since his hire in 2020, was similarly promoted to the permanent head coaching position on the baseball side shortly after the transition, amid a season-ending run that saw the Irish win 13 of their last 21 games. 

They not only finished runner-up in region 2-High A, but swept Screven County in their opening playoff series before  taking top-seed Irwin County to three games in the second round. 

So far, Dublin’s lone head coaching hire from outside the system is Monte Killins, who will take over reins of the school’s girls basketball team. 

He was announced May 24 as successor to Evan Jefferson, who resigned after four seasons to accept a new position as head boys coach at Midtown (formerly Grady) High School in Atlanta. 

Jefferson helped the Lady Irish win the region championship, and duplicate their 22-win total from the three previous seasons combined in year 1. The team would post 80 victories total under his watch. 

“The success wasn’t easy by any means, but everything we put into the program made it worth it,” he said in a statement. “Taking over the Lady Irish basketball program and being here helped restore the passion and love for coaching that was missing when I stepped away in 2019. The decision to step down wasn’t easy because of the relationships I’ve made throughout my time here but sometimes hard decisions have to be made. I want to thank everybody who helped out and supported during this journey, from all the tip off club members, to the admin and teachers, all the students, the people in the community and of course the parents.” 

Killins, most recently a boys basketball assistant and middle school football and track head coach in the Hancock County system, has 16 years of coaching experience, which includes eight state playoff appearances as a head coach and a 2014 state title while at Randolph-Clay. Other stops along the way included Dougherty County and Mitchell County. 

Killins believes in playing fast and pressing full-court, and said in a press release his teams will “utilize an up-tempo style of play, and we’re going to hang our hats on defense.” 

Holmes, who’s preparing for a 22nd season roaming the Shamrock Bowl sidelines, has reduced his job role to 49 percent status as he scales back a few of the administrative duties that have long made up the bulk of the position he’s held with the school since moving to Dublin from Tennessee in 2002. 

But the Irish legend plans to remain head football coach of the Green and Gold for the foreseeable future as he continues in a slightly different capacity starting this fall. 

He’ll be utilizing an option available in Georgia to any retired educator who aspires to begin drawing the state teacher retirement pension but continue working on a part-time basis. 

After turning in retirement papers in June, Holmes was never off the job, though he was briefly off the Dublin City Schools payroll while satisfying a required 30-day waiting period after which he could officially be hired back. 

His retooled job, titled head football coach and system-wide athletic director, will carry duties that – for the immediate future – mostly mirror those of his prior role, with some key facets delegated to others and an eventual successor as high school AD. 

All the labors of love tied to coaching football – running practice, weight training practice, film study and meetings – will remain unchanged. Holmes will also continue to handle a majority of the desk-based AD work involving GHSA compliance, region affairs, finances and staff management. 

The main responsibility he’s glad to be relinquishing is that of event administrator at most non-football contests, which usually involved five-plus hour evenings opening and locking up facilities, welcoming officials and seeing to any of the various other needs that would arise. 

In the football offseason, it’ll free up some key hours for doing some of the things like golf, fishing and family time that are a hard-earned reward of almost 40 years in education. 

“I’m appreciative that our board of education and superintendent were willing to give me this opportunity to continue to do what I want to do, coach football on a daily basis,” Holmes said. “And I appreciate that they still have the trust in me to handle the AD duties.” 

Though the board is not pressed for time in choosing a replacement, plans are for a new high school athletic director to eventually be named to work alongside Holmes in the coming years, and take over his full administrative duties at the point he’s ready to fully step down. 

“Whenever that time comes, they’ll be in a position to rock and roll,” he said. 

With three exceptions, the rest of Dublin’s football coaching staff this fall will look very familiar to the way it has the past two years. 

Of the hires to a handful of vacant spots were two recent area head coaches, East Laurens’ Bin Turner and Montgomery County’s Don Vandygriff, hired to lead position groups on the defensive line. Turner will be coaching tackles, and “Vandy,” ends. 

Turner joined the Irish around Christmastime, having departed the Eastside just after the end of his sixth season in charge of the Falcons, affording him plenty of time to build  “rapport and relationships” with players in the weight room and on the spring practice field. 

“I could not be more pleased with his enthusiasm and effort as a coach,” Holmes said. “He’s worked very closely with those guys, maybe three days a week. He takes a lot of pride in what this group does.” 

Vandygriff, let go at MoCo after two seasons, is back for his third stint as an assistant at Dublin, his first two as defensive coordinator bookending a single-season head coaching gig during the early portion of Holmes’ tenure, including the ’06 state championship season. 

“Obviously, no one would ever get hired back a third time if we didn’t respect their knowledge and ability to work with players,” Holmes said. “He knows how we practice and what we’re going to do.” 

The Irish have one other new coach who’s a Laurens County newcomer – Messiah Dalton, who comes to the Bowl by way of Statesboro with work around some high-profile programs including Grayson and Valdosta on his resume. 

“He’s been in multiple programs where football is very important, and the expectations of the staff are high,” Holmes said. 

Offseason departures for the Irish included Scott Pagano (to Bleckley County) and Ted Bellflower (to Tattnall Square), both becoming defensive coordinators. 

Dublin opens the season at Swainsboro Aug. 16.

(Photos courtesy of Dublin City Schools, and from Courier Herald files)