By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          The second coaching vacancy in Central Georgia was created Monday when Houston County released Ryan Crawford from head coaching duties.

          Crawford replied to one text Monday afternoon from The Sports Report about calling, but he declined to talk, preferring a text. But he didn’t reply to the inquiring text.

Crawford did confirm that a change has been made in a Twitter post at 4:07 p.m..

                Crawford went 21-34 in five seasons, starting off with a pair of 2-8 seasons followed by 7-6 and a 6A quarterfinal trip. The Bears wnet 6-5 last year and 4-7 this year, losing in the first round each year.

          The favored Bears lost 19-10 to Evans on Saturday.

          Crawford was approved as head coach on Feb. 28, 2017, about 10 days days after Von Lassiter was approved to take over at Bleckley County, his alma mater. The then-36-year-old became the Bears’ fifth head coach since 2006 and sixth in program history.

          Crawford graduated in 1998 from Griffin and in 2003 from Valdosta State. All but two years of his coaching career has been in Houston County, first at Northside and then Houston County after two years at Tattnall County.

          He has been on the defensive side of the ball his entire career, the final three of eight years at Northside as linebackers coach. He was among Lassiter’s first hires upon taking the Houston County job in January of 2013, and was the Bears’ defensive coordinator.

          Lassiter took over a program in 2013 that gone 17-33 in the previous five years, and had six winning seasons in the previous 13 seasons.

          Enter Jake Fromm, a freshman quarterback to took the starting job from experienced senior Taylor Boyett about midway throughthe 2013 season. Boyett was 112 of 197 for 1,565 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a junior.

          He threw 91 passes in Houston County’s first six games that season, and 33 in the final four regular-season games, with Fromm taking over.

          The Bears went 35-12 with Fromm in uniform, by far the program’s best stretch. According to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, Houston County is 172-166-1 in 31 seasons, a 50.9 percent rate.

          Without Fromm, the overall record drops to 137-154 (47.1 percent). Houston County’s first season was in 1991, and the school grew as fast as expected, and it began competing in the state’s highest classification in 1998. It has been in 6A since 2016, when the GHSA added a seventh class.

          Doug Johnson was Houston County’s head coach for its first 16 seasons, followed by George Collins for one (1-9), Greg Robinson for five (17-33), and Lassiter for four (35-12).

          Crawford’s wife Angela was a long-time head softball coach for the Bears. They’re the parents of three sons.