Disagreement leads to head football coaching change at this Columbus area high school
Chattahoochee County High School head football coach Josh Jacobson has resigned.
Jacobson confirmed the news Thursday evening to the Ledger-Enquirer.
He declined to be specific, but Jacobson said he chose to relinquish the position after a disagreement with the administration.
“It was an unforeseen circumstance that came up that was out of my control from a program perspective in the way that admin wanted to go, and I disagreed,” he said. “That’s pretty much it. I had to walk away.”
ChattCo superintendent Kristie Brooks also declined to be specify the disagreement, but she confirmed to the L-E it was Jacobson’s decision to resign from the Georgia High School Association Class A program.
“I don’t want to go into personnel and confidential information, but it’s very important in all schools but especially in a single-A school that we’re very aligned in the work that we’re doing,” she said. “We laid out some of those expectations of what we expect, and it did not align with the vision that he would like.
“Our goal is to find the right fit and someone who’s going to bring consistency and stability to help our boys move forward and become strong young men. We did not necessarily expect he was going to resign, but we are using it as an opportunity to build our program to where it used to be. We’ve had some years when we’ve had great success, and we want to get it back to that level.”
The Panthers went 1-9 in 2023, their lone season under Jacobson, who was in his first year as a head football coach in Georgia. He previously was the offensive coordinator at Suwannee High School in Live Oak, Florida, where the team went 10-3 in 2022 and advanced to the quarterfinals in the Class 2S state playoffs.
ChattCo now is seeking its fourth head football coach in as many seasons. The program’s two previous leaders departed for jobs in Muscogee County:
Pierre Coffey led the Panthers to records of 8-2 in 2020 and 8-3 in 2021 (both including first-round state playoff losses), but he left ChattCo to become Carver’s head coach.
The Panthers then went 5-6 under Ryan McKenzie in 2022 (with another first-round state playoff loss), but McKenzie left to become Hardaway’s head coach.
Selection process for next ChattCo head football coach
In one week, ChattCo already has received applications from “several exceptional coaches” among more than 10 candidates, Brooks said. She expects the interview panel to comprise an alumnus, a student and a community representative along with the administration.
That’s because the selection won’t be about only “X’s and O’s but also building the culture,” Brooks said.
Until then, wide receivers and defensive backs coach Wayne Johnson is in charge of the program, she said.
Brooks had this to say about Jacobson: “We appreciate what he has brought to us. He has a great family. His wife’s been teaching for us — just an exceptional teacher, wonderful children. We wish them well, whatever the next step of their journey is.”
Next step in Josh Jacobson’s career
Jacobson plans to finish the school year as a physical education teacher at ChattCo, where his wife is a sixth-grade teacher and their children attend. Meanwhile, he is trying to land a football coaching job elsewhere in time for next season.
“The people that are negatively affected in this whole situation are the players,” he said. “When I arrived last January, the players did everything I asked for the most part from January to December. I tried to establish an annual program. I love all the players.”
Jacobson noted the ChattCo football program shows potential for improvement.
“We were very inexperienced,” he said. “Even though I had juniors and seniors on the team, a lot of them only had ninth-grade playing experience, which meant they were first-time Friday night guys. … Eighty to eighty-five percent of the roster will be back. The core nucleus of next season’s team is going to be 10th- and 11th-graders. So assuming the military kids don’t leave, two years from now, in 2025, they’re going to be really strong.”
Other head football coaching changes in Columbus area
This is the fourth head football coaching change at Columbus area high school this off season. The previous three are:
Kendrick High School promoted defensive coordinator Emmanuel Brown to succeed Robert Martin Jr., who resigned due to unspecified medical issues.
Columbus High School promoted offensive coordinator Robert “Bob” Peters to succeed Phil Marino, who is retiring.
Manchester High School head football coach Stephen Holmes resigned to lead the Pike County program. Manchester assistant coach Demonta Prather was appointed interim head coach.
