Coaching Carousel: Campbell handles spare time for less than a week, is named as Westfield's head coach
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Chad Campbell showed for 30 years that he knows how to coach.
He showed in less than a week he doesnât know how to not coach.
In a move speculated on before he announced his resignation from Peach County last week, Campbell was named Wednesday as the new head coach at Westfield.
It will be Campbellâs first experience of any kind with a private school, other than coaching against a few â Greater Atlanta Christian, Westminster, Savannah Christian, St. Pius X, all in GHSA playoffs - in his years at Peach County.
And he didnât play against any during his high school days at Hawkinsville.
Attempts to reach Campbell Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Rob Fitzpatrick turned in his whistle as head football coach after three seasons and a 20-12-1 record. Heâs done double-duty the last three years, as head football coach as well as head baseball coach.
âWe greatly appreciate Coach Rob Fitzpatrick for his service and look forward to his continued efforts in our athletic program,â Westfield head of school William Carroll said in a release. âWe are excited to have Coach Campbell heading up our football program and know that his experience and success will be a great asset.
âWe believe he will continue the excitement and energy that Coach Fitzpatrick brought to our football program, and we look forward to having Coach Campbell at Westfield.â
Campbell starts at the beginning of the 2023.
Fitzpatrickâs appointment in late February of 2020 was considered a surprise, coming after the abrupt resignation of Bruce Lane after one season. Lane went 3-9 in 2019, having taken over for Jamey Watson.
Watson succeeded Westfield legend Ronnie Jones starting in 2016, but struggled to a 7-25 record in three seasons.
âWhen I took the job, I knew the school was in need,â Fitzpatrick said Wednesday night. âI thought it was a challenge for me to do that.
âBut I didnât want to leave baseball, by any means.â
Fitzpatrick is from New Jersey, but played baseball at Georgia Southern and was picked in the 1986 draft by the New York Mets out of high school and in the seventh round of the 1990 draft in college.
He played in the minors from 1990-95, hitting .242 with 42 homers and 198 RBI in 1,607 at-bats.
Fitzpatrick has been at Westfield since 2008 as head baseball coach and assistant football coach. He was a student assistant at Westside under Robert Davis, coaching with the likes of David Bruce, Mark Tallant, David Bruce, David Daniell, and Stacey Harden, among others.
He also coached at Mary Persons and Southwest before moving to Westfield.
His taking over football was a surprise at the time, and conventional wisdom was that it wasnât a truly long-term situation.
His first addition to the staff was former Northside head coach Kevin Kinsler. Kinslerâs time at Westfield ended earlier this season during a game after a disagreement with Fitzpatrick.
The staff had two other former head coaches, Rex Hodges (Dodge County) and Greg Robinson (Dodge County, Houston County).
âI surrounded myself with good coaches,â Fitzpatrick said. âThey did a great job.â
Fitzpatrick thought about the move during the football season and decided officially after the Hornetsâ first-game loss to Tattnall in the GIAA playoffs.
Fitzpatrick met his successor when Campbell was an assistant baseball coach in his early days at Peach County, but Fitzpatrick said the two havenât really crossed paths in many, many years.
So what he knows of Campbell is by reputation and success.
âWhat that says about Chad is that he loves football,â Fitzpatrick said of Campbell being a civilian for all of a week. âNot taking a year off leads me to believe that guy really loves football.â