Coaching carousel brings new faces to local high school sports staffs for 2026-27

With every new school year comes a number of new faces on the local high school sidelines, as coaching positions change hands with the annual comings and goings of teachers and staff. 

This offseason had its share of turnover involving various sports at Dublin, East Laurens, Trinity and West Laurens. Here’s a look at the adjustments in store for each school’s coaching roster in 2026 and 27… 

Dublin… 

District-wide upheaval, resulting from the past year’s financial issues, will have as significant an impact on the Irish athletic department for the upcoming season, most noticeably in three major sports – basketball, baseball and softball – that will be led by new head coaches. 

They went in-house to fill openings at the head of both their varsity hoops teams, tapping longtime boys assistant Cortez Chapman (who also stepped in as temporary girls head coach for the final week of last season) to take over for the departed Michelle Mitchell and Carlos Hope. 

New baseball and softball skipper Brian Young comes by way of Tennessee in a similar two-for-one arrangement, following previous stints as head coach at Memphis-based LeMoyne-Owen College, Rossville Christian Academy and Fayette-Ware High School. 

He replaces Brian Brown – who’s headed just down the road to join Treutlen Middle/High School in the same capacity (former multi-sport assistant Matthew Pogue is also a new Viking) – on the baseball side, and Josh McLendon – moving on to a new teaching/coaching position at Houston County High – in charge of softball. 

Stephanie Stubbs, who will continue as part of the softball staff, is stepping up to fill McLendon’s post as DHS athletic director. 

District AD and head football coach Roger Holmes is back for his 24th season this fall, though his staff will see some shake-ups after the loss of several longtime deputies. 

Son Riley (bound for Lamar County), Don Vandygriff (now at Jeff Davis), Gary Morton (slated to join Treutlen) and Joel Ingram (landing with northwest Georgia powerhouse Bowdon, under a former Dublin assistant in its new head coach Jamie Abrams) each moved on to new opportunities. 

Returning assistants Joe Stubbs (as defensive coordinator), Brad Wallace, Bin Turner, Brandon Walden, Fred Williams II and Keaton Wilson will be joined by a handful of newcomers this fall including Jake Brock, a former Reinhardt offensive lineman who hails from Dalton and a most recent coaching gig at Southeast Whitfield, and recent Irish running back J.T. Wright. 

Dublin, as of earlier this summer, was still working on filling vacancies on its middle school football coaching staff (whose outgoing head coach is Seth Watts), and in soccer, where boys head coach Matt Starley is moving out to West Laurens. 

East Laurens…

Besides in the brand new sport of flag football, for which girls head track coach Shumara Carswell will lead the Falcons’ inaugural season, there will be no new head coaches on the Eastside for the 2026-27 season. 

The school’s only big changes amount to some tweaks, primarily on the football staff where Emmanuel Boone (off his first season as head wrestling coach) has been elevated to offensive coordinator to succeed the outgoing Andrew Satterwhite. 

Coach Jesse Hicks has also added former Falcon QB Zaylen Boston and past Trinity star Patrick Evans as community coaches (Evans will also assist in slowpitch softball) and promoted Jeremiah Hicks to serve as co-defensive coordinator alongside Ryan Selby. 

Former East Laurens girls soccer player Cayleigh Allen will also be reunited with head coach Chris Robinson as a new inclusion on the girls soccer staff. 

Trinity…

The Crusaders’ only athletic staffing adjustments this fall are concentrated to the football program, where there will be some sizable shoes left behind by defensive coordinator Christian Lane, the new head coach at Vidalia Heritage, and former assistants Rob and Ben East, who have both opted to step away from coaching. 

Third-year Trinity head coach Bruce Lane cast a wide net to find the fresh faces he’ll welcome to his staff this fall. 

Former Dublin state champion running back Thomas Barnes comes from closest by to serve in a part-time capacity. Two others, Quinton Cooley and John Scargle, make their way to Dublin from well out of state to sign on in full-time teaching positions. 

Cooley, who will teach elementary PE and also assist in track and field, is a former all-conference running back at Liberty University who played a season in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. 

Scargle, set to teach PE and help out in soccer, was most recently the defensive backs coach at Pennsylvania’s Westminster College, but worked previously in a variety of college and high school positions concentrated mostly to Florida, where the California native played his college ball at UCF, over more than 20 seasons. 

Mitchell Clegg, who once held a more extensive coaching role at the school before joining CrossFit DGA full-time, is also coming back in a partial capacity to serve as the Crusaders’ strength and conditioning coach. 

Former Trinity QB Jim Coleman, who got his feet wet helping out in several sports last school year, will also be continuing his role on the staff as a student assistant. 

West Laurens…

There’s little change of note for the upcoming year on the Westside, where the Raiders’ only major adjustment comes on the offensive side of the football staff after Montgomery County’s hire of playcaller and quarterbacks guru Gabe Gay as its new head coach. 

West will elevate third-year assistant Matt Janufka to take his place as OC, and has added Dublin’s Starley (who will also be a wrestling assistant) to the staff.  

Other additions to the school’s roster of assistants in other sports include Shermika Harris (boys basketball) and Cailyn Snellgrove (fastpitch softball).