By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Jones County will apparently be without a head football coach officially for less than 72 hours.

Jones County has hired Warner Robins head coach Mike Chastain to succeed Justin Rogers, who was approved Monday night to take over at Colquitt County.

Mike Chastain

1993-94
Graduated from Northside
1994-98
Attended, graduated from West Georgia
1998-99
West Georgia: student assistant
1999-00
Houston County: community coach
2000-2002
Peach County: Byron Middle School head coach
2002-05
Northside: ninth-grade head coach, varsity tight ends and tackles
2005-07
Bleckley County: offensive line, strength and conditioning
2007-09
Peach County: quarterbacks, strength and conditioning
2009-11
Lee County: offensive coordinator
2011-13
Veterans: quarterbacks
2013-16
Houston County: offensive coordinator, quarterbacks, running backs
2016-2019
Warner Robins: head coach

The Jones County News confirmed the hiring with a story posted shortly before 4 p.m.

Chastain interviewed on Wednesday, and was offered and accepted the job, which reportedly included additional financial considerations. He’ll need to be approved at Friday morning’s called board meeting.

A call and text to Jones County athletics director Barry Veal at 3:30 p.m. has yet to be returned. Chastain’s reply to a 4:20 p.m. text about setting up a call was that he couldn’t talk at the time.

Chastain moves from one Class 5A program to another. The Demons are in Region 1 and the Greyhounds in Region 5. The teams last played in 2015, Justin Rogers’ second season, and the Greyhounds won 31-21.

Warner Robins after having been one of the more stable programs around is now looking for its third new head coach since 2015. Chastain succeeded Bryan Way, who retired after the 2015 season following 12 years as head coach and dozens as an assistant.

Jones County, on the other hand, had been a home to coaching turnover, and Chastain becomes the Greyhounds’ fifth new head coach since 2002. And he follows the most successful head coach in Jones County history (75 percent), who was two victories away from becoming its winningest.

Rogers went 45-15 in five seasons, making the playoffs each year. The Greyhounds had made the postseason in consecutive seasons only once before Rogers arrived.

According to www.open.georgia.gov, Rogers’ salary is $94,699.24 and Chastain’s $86,870.52, for 2018.

The 43-year-old Chastain went 29-12 in his first stint as a varsity head coach, taking over at Warner Robins after assistant stints at Houston County twice (once as community coach), Veterans, Lee County, Peach County twice (once as Byron Middle head coach), Bleckley County, and Northside.

After a transition-filled 3-8 in 2016, Warner Robins has gone 26-4 the past two years with trips to the Class 5A title game each time.

In 2017, they lost 38-0 at home to Rome in the championship, and then lost 47-41 in three overtimes to region rival Bainbridge in last year’s finale in one of the more memorable title games in any class the past several years. The game was back and forth, and Chastain unintentionally found the spotlight with his decision to taking points on a field goal decline a penalty that would have given the Demons a first-and-goal, declining it based on information he said he got from an official that it would not have been an automatic first down.

Warner Robins won Region 1 last year despite having to forfeit a win over Harris County for playing an ineligible player. Jones County had to forfeit a win over Washington County in 2016.

The new Demons head coach will have an interesting team awaiting.

Warner Robins’ offense loses quarterback Dylan Fromm, tight end/receiver Tyler Fromm, and offensive lineman Karon Taylor. Dylan Fromm, The Sports Report of Central Georgia’s offensive player of the year who transferred from Houston County after his sophomore year, threw for nearly 7,900 yards in two seasons, so the Demons will have new quarterback, but return All-Everything receiver Marcayll Jones, who set the state mark as a junior for receiving yards in a season.

There were six senior starters on defense, but some talented underclassmen.

Ostensibly, Chastain’s background with aggressive and open offenses – he was the offensive coordinator at Houston County with current Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm – put him atop the Greyhounds’ wish list.

Peach County offensive coordinator Todd Cooper and current Veterans head coach Milan Turner were reportedly the two other finalists when Chastain got the position.

Jones County returns plenty of players on both sides, including quarterback Hunter Costlow (2,413 yards, 30 TDs), major-college receiving prospect Jontavis Robertson (who leads a loaded receiving crew), offensive linemen Rhett Huckeba and Conner Griffin, and about half of the defensive starters.