By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

When they were in the same region, Joel Ingram and Roger Holmes talked a lot.

When they were in separate classifications, Ingram and Holmes talked a lot.

When Ingram started feeling during the 2021 season that his days as head coach at Washington County appeared to be numbers, they talked. Last fall was no different.

**Former Washington County head coach Joel Ingram is now on the staff at Dublin.**
*Photo: Michael A. Lough*

Holmes was in the process of making a number of changes, and called Ingram for any recommendations on the offensive line.

“Through the conversation, Joel says, “I don't know how it is over here. I might be hunting,’” Holmes said. “I think he had some inclination that there might be a possibility that he might be looking.”

There was, and he was. Ingram became a free agent in early December when he was reassigned away from being head coach.

“I reached out to him, and it had nothing to do with the job,” Holmes said. “It had to do with the friendship and the professional relationship.”

Some schools contacted Ingram about head coaching positions, but he wasn’t much interested in anything too far from Sandersville, because of family concerns. So Holmes asked if Ingram might want to come to Dublin.

The hopes became reality on Tuesday when Ingram began working at Dublin, in the weight room while starting to get into the football mode as the Irish’s new assistant head coach in charge of the interior offensive linemen.

“It makes for a good fit,” said Holmes, who will start his 21st season with the Irish this fall. “I know that I'm getting one of the best offensive line coaches around.”

Coverage: Ingram out at Washington County after 16 seasons as head coach, six as an assistant

Ingram also impacted Washington County in weight training, and the Golden Hawks have had one of the top programs in the state for years. That added to Holmes’ interest.

“I also know that I'm getting … the whole weight room philosophy at Washington County (and) we hope that we can develop that same culture in Dublin City Schools.”

Ingram went 1-5 against Holmes.

“There were some years where he wouldn’t play us,” Ingram said with a laugh.

Ingram’s doing a little more laughing lately, in a new job he didn’t expect to have a year ago.

“He’s been a mentor for 20 years,” Ingram said. “We’ve always gotten along. We competed hard against each other, we’ve worked together in all-star games. It’s been a great week.”

Holmes was quite close to adding another heavy head-coach hitter as an assistant.

Bobby Sharp, a member of the Tennessee Football Coaches Hall of Fame with 280 wins, is a wing-T coach, like Holmes, and they’ve known each other for years. Sharp was ready to retire from Lewis County High in Tennessee and move to Dublin as an assistant.

Had that happened, the Irish would have opened the 2022 season with 661 wins on the staff: Holmes with 250 (73 in Tennessee, 177 in Georgia), Ingram at 131-58-1, and Sharp at 280.

But another job nearby in Tennessee opened up, and Sharp decided to take that position, and is expected to be approved on Monday.

Ingram and Scott Pagano are the new Dublin coaches amid what Holmes said was probably the most staff changing in his career.

The Irish went 6-5 in 2021 in GHSA Region 4-A Public, giving up 23 points a game, with 39 against Swainsboro, 31 to Dooly County, 42 to Johnson County, and 38 to Turner County.

Holmes said a wakeup call came when the Irish were a trivia question with the Georgia High School Football Daily, which noted the same team that gave up 30 points total in 2005 in 12 games with nine shutouts had given up 30 points or more in 14 games the past three years, including in 32 points in the 2019 state title game, a 42-32 win.

“I thought that was a pretty good question, to be honest with you,” Holmes said with a chuckle. “At the end of the day, that’s the cold, hard facts.”

Pagano, who played for three years at Clemson – including on a national championship team – and one year at Oregon, takes over on the defensive line and as run-game coordinator. He replaces Nick Collins on the line.

Joe Stubbs has been promoted to defensive coordinator to replace Collins, and will continue to coach part of the secondary.

Derrick Brown moves to linebackers to replace Matthew Pogue, having coached defensive ends and offensive linemen. Pogue and Collins have been offered other positions within the system.

Robert Evans was the defensive ends coach, working the Irish on an unofficially fill-in basis when administrative issues led to another hire for that spot not working out. Evans was a wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s, and has been offered another position as well.

“We felt that as a defensive football team, we had not been performing at a level we historically have performed at,” Holmes said. “When you’re scoring 30, or 28 points, on offense, we expect to win.”

Also out is Tracy White, who joined the Dublin staff after parting ways with Bleckley County after the 2016 season.

Dublin is still without a tackles/tight ends coach, and quarterback/fullback coach. Holmes hopes to have one vacancy filled early next week.

“There just comes a time sometimes when things get stale and you need to make some adjustments to play at your best level,” Holmes said. “This was not something I enjoyed having to deal with, but it what it is.

“You have to make it work.”