By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com
 

          Just short of 11 months after Bibb County approved him as the new head coach at Central, Sumter County has approved Larry Harold as the new head coach at Americus-Sumter.

          That happened last Thursday, with Harold hired to replace Erik Soliday, who retired in January from the system but took the head coaching job at Tiftarea Academy after nearly 30 years in the public school system.

          It was the second stint in Americus for Soliday, who coached at Perry for two seasons before taking that job. He went 57-10 at Americus, which merged with Sumter County in 2004.

          For Harold, it’s his fourth job in seven seasons, and one he wasn’t expecting.

Also on the coaching carousel ...

          Crawford County also made a hire recently, and Jhon Smith has taken over after serving as Lee County’s defensive coordinator.

          Greg Street went 22-37 in six seasons, the Eagles not playing region ball for two seasons in Class AA before dropping to Class A. They went 2-8 in two region seasons in 4-A, which two quarterfinal teams in 2017 and a state champ and quarterfinalist in 2016.

          Street, who is awaiting official approval for a coordinator job at another Central Georgia school, said he told Crawford County principal Ed Ray Mashburn before the 2017 season that it would be his last.

          Street has talked in the past of the difficulty in coaching football at a basketball school, and said Sunday there hadn’t been much progress in that area in terms of general program upgrades and getting some athletes onto the football field. He also noted inconsistent community support.

          “The overall buy-in process,” said Street, a Peach County grad. “It was just time. We left it better than we found it. That’s what I can hang my hat on.”

          Despite two straight winless seasons to start with, Street went 22-37 in six seasons, making him the program’s second-winningest coach behind Tony Byram, who went 70-122 in two stints covering 18 seasons. The Eagles went 0-10 three times in Byram’s second time, but he had the program’s only run of five straight winning seasons, from 1994-97, including a 22-5 mark in 96-97.

          Another aspect Street said that made the job tougher was Roberta changing a little as a community.

          “Now, it’s a bedroom community,” he said. “Between Macon and Fort Valley. ... In the ‘90s, they had kids that lived in Roberta, in Crawford County. Nobody’s settling there.”

          And Putman County has hired Shaun Pope – 4-16 after a season each at Montgomery County (0-10 in 2006) and Chattahoochee County (4-6 in 2010) to replace Kyle Gourley, out after five seasons and an 18-33 record. Pope joined the staff in 2016, coming from Toombs County. He has also coached at Ware County and East Laurens.

          “I didn’t want to leave Central,” he said Sunday. “Mr. (principal Emanuel) Frazier, the administration, the kids were great.”

          The Chargers went 2-7 overall and 2-4 in Region 4-AAA play, beating Kendrick and Rutland. But Central was competitive, losing another three games – two to playoff teams - by single digits.

          Harold came to Georgia in 2010 from Louisiana, and went 19-15 in three seasons at Macon County from 2012-14, and then 8-12 in two at Brunswick, parting ways with the school right after the 2016 season.

          “... We had a resignation,” Harold told the Brunswick News regarding a conversation with Glynn County School athletics director Steve Waters. “I asked for one more year, and he didn’t think I deserved it, and that was it.”

          Brunswick hasn’t had consecutive winning seasons since a run of them from 2003-10, and is on its fifth coach since the turn of the century.

          Central is now looking for its sixth head coach in that span.

          The 2017 season ended a streak of three straight non-losing seasons, a 5-5 followed by two 6-4s. Central has made the playoffs twice since Tom Simonton retired in 1997.

          Harold said the Chargers had 21 seniors in 2017 and will be very young. Conversely, he takes over a program that’s win and is in place to win.

          “I talked to Coach Soliday twice before I applied,” Harold said. “He told me he hated to leave, but he wanted to go retire and he wanted to be closer to home.”

          Harold was familiar with Americus-Sumter, playing the Panthers all three years he was at Macon County, losing 34-18, winning 34-18 and losing 28-23.

          Harold said the Panthers have a good sophomore group, and that the younger programs are all on a roll.

          The Panthers are hoping for some stability. Mark Wilson, now at Taylor County, at four years is the longest they’ve had one head coach, Wilson going 15-27 in four seasons. The program is 60-89.

          Harold said he expected Central assistant and alum Joaquin Sample, a finalist when Jesse Hicks was head coach, to again apply, and hoped he would again get serious consideration.

          “Every program I’ve taken over, you can ask anybody, is better than what we started with,” Harold said. “We did some things: organized the weight room, we organized the ield house, was more efficient, bought some equipment. The kids work year ‘round now in the weight room.

          “I just feel like it would be better (with Sample), anything to keep that continuity.”