Coaching Carousel: Pope resigns at Putnam County, Williamson at Hawkinsville
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
The first major spin of the Central Georgia coaching carousel came last week with the resignation of Chad Campbell after 30 seasons at Peach County.
Then came Joaquin Sample’s announcement that he wouldn’t be returning to Central.
The two latest moves come from smaller schools.
Shane Williamson resigned last week at Hawkinsville, and Shaun Pope is retiring at Putnam County.
Pope’s announcement on Monday was in the works for months, before the season, but he kept it to himself, and to his wife.
The 50-year-old has been ready.
“I’ve got 27 years in coaching,” he said. “I want to go home and play husband and daddy a little bit more than I’ve been doing for the last 27 years. I’m going to be a better daddy.”
Pope went 38-19 in Eatonton in five seasons, with the War Eagles’ first 10-win season -12-1 last year – since 1994 when Putnam County legend Al Reaves’ team went 12-3 and lost in the Class A finals.
Putnam County’s Shaun Pope.
Photo: 247Sports
Granted, he’s 161 wins behind Reaves, but Pope departs as the program’s second-winningest head coach, and second-most successful, his winning percentage of 79.41 tops the 59.44percent of Reaves (199-135-5), who coached at Putnam County from 1964-80 and 1987-2000.
“He’s a legend there, done some really good things,” Pope said.
The War Eagles reached the quarterfinals in 2021 after winning the Region 4-AA title and the second round in 2022.
The Wheeler County and Brewton-Parker grad has coached at Claxton, Dublin, Ware County, Wayne County, Montgomery County – “I coached them up to 0-10,” Pope joked - East Laurens, Chattahoochee County, back to Ware County, and Toombs County, before Gourley called.
Putnam County’s three-year run of 30-6 is its best since 29-11 from 1994-96. Current multi-sport standout Jalen Kilgore has committed to South Carolina. The War Eagles lose four on both sides of the ball.
“We lost a ton of talent last year, a ton of starters,” Pope said. “I knew a lot of these guys had gotten a lot of quality reps. They stepped in this year.
“It’s going to be that way next year. We’re losing some dynamic kids at receiver, but there’s no reason that Putnam should fall off.
“There are just a lot of great kids here.”
Now, Pope will start planning and learning to adjust to life with no spring football to worry about, or staff changes, or equipment purchases.
“I’m gonna get on my boat and ride,” he said with laugh. “Load the wife and kids up and go for more boat rides, and maybe start fishing a little bit.”
Williamson is out after four seasons and an 11-29 record. He is 97-124-2 at Hawkinsville, Lumpkin County, Forsyth Central, Toombs County, and Swainsboro, his first job. He went 42-24 with the Tigers.
Williamson’s record at Hawkinsville doesn’t indicate how competitive the Red Devils were. They lost nine games seven by 14 points or less, four this year.
Hawkinsville’s weight training had picked up steam the past few years, and the Red Devils were huge in the weight room around the years they won state titles in 2014 and in 2003-04. But that hadn’t quite translated to football yet.
Williamson had been Hawkinsville’s principal for a little more than a year, but minutes of a Pulaski County Board of Education meeting on Sept. 27 indicate he was transferred to assistant superintendent, and was succeeded by Jody Heath, who has worked at Westside and Rutland.
That brings to four the number of Central Georgia changes: Joaquin Sample at Central and Chad Campbell of Peach County.
Former Central Georgia coaches are in the job market: Griffin’s Rusty Easom (Rutland), Rockdale County’s Lee Hannah (Baldwin), Central-Talbotton’s Chris Cowart (Central assistant), and Dacula’s Casey Vogt (Northside assistant, Mercer assistant).
Major and notable programs statewide are in transition, like Lowndes, Pope, Blessed Trinity, Jefferson County, and Southwest DeKalb.