By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          The meeting wasn’t to start for about 18 hours, and Chris McCook was mum.

          The Warner Robins principal wasn’t giving many hints about who his recommendation to the Houston County Board of Education was for the next Warner Robins head football coach, but he was pretty amped about the “why.”

Central Georgia’s Carousel
Feb. 9: After coaching in five decades, Dodge County’s Hardin ready for some family time
Feb. 8: Holes galore open up a Westfield with departure of ‘Mr. Do Everything’ Champion
Feb. 7: Brentwood’s Brown stepping down as head coach, to stay at Brentwood as a football coach
Jan. 24: Putnam County has a new coach
Jan. 20: Central hires former Salem coach
Jan. 17: From Houston County to Peach County, Ben Bailey is now the boss at Northside
Jan: 9: Kaboom: Warner Robins’ Westbrook heading to Peach County
Dec 27: GMC’s Coleman resigns for new job
Dec 14: Alligood to Jones County
Dec. 12: Another Central Georgia coaching bomb drops: Alligood resigns at Northside
Dec. 8: Campbell un-retires, taking over at Westfield, Fitzpatrick returns to baseball full-time
Dec. 6: Pope resigns at Putnam County, Williamson at Hawkinsville
Dec. 2: Central’s Sample out
Nov. 30: End of an era, Chad Campbell retires from the only place he’s worked, Peach County
Aug. 15: Another Macon private school era is closing: Greg Moore’s 22nds year as FPD’s head coach is his last, and ‘I have incredible peace’

          “I’m super excited,” McCook said Monday evening. “People keep asking me who it is, and I tell them it’s the next state champion.”

          Shane Sams was approved Tuesday afternoon by the county board to return to his alma mater and try to lead it to a seventh straight GHSA Class 5A championship game.

          He replaces Marquis Westbrook, who left for Peach County early last month.

          Sams, of course, has been there before, and with the Demons. He was Warner Robins’ offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018, under then-head coach Mike Chastain, now at Jones County.

          The Demons went 14-1 in 2017 and lost to Rome 38-0 in the championship game, which started Warner Robins’ current epic run. A year later, Warner Robins went 12-3 and lost to Bainbridge in three overtimes in the championship.

          Warner Robins averaged 34.1 points and 37.2 points in those two seasons, numbers that Sams’ successor, Jeremy Edwards, improved on in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

          Sams’ head coaching debut didn’t go as planned, Centennial going 0-10 in his lone season there. He was drawn back to familiar territory, and enemy territory, a year later to serve as an assistant at Northside under then-head coach – and former and future offensive coordinator - Chad Alligood.

          Sams left for the OC job at Rome – who beat his Demons a few years earlier - after a season in which the Eagles averaged only 14.3 points a game in a 5-6 year.

          The Wolves averaged 32.3 points in 2021’s 8-3 season and 36.9 points in 2022’s trip to the semifinals.

          The 2008 Warner Robins graduate played football and baseball for the Demons, then graduated from West Georgia – among the group of current and former Central Georgia coaches who went to Carrollton – and started his coaching career at Villa Rica. He then moved to New Manchester – where he got his first offensive coordinator job - and Chapel Hill before moving back to Warner Robins.

          A handful of the nearly 20 applicants and 40 or so general candidates were interviewed last week.

          Sams will have some openings to fill, with the departures of assistants Tanner Smith, Josh Schuyler, Harrison Gore, and Derek Mason to Peach County with Westbrook.

          Two key returnees are defensive coordinator Chris Reeves – who Cook, a former coach, said is among the best defensive minds he’s ever dealt with – and offensive coordinator Caleb Daffron.

          Daffron took over in that role a few games into the season after Westbrook made a change, and release new hire Kevious Johnson from that role after a sluggish start. Daffron played at Houston County with Jake Fromm.

          LaRon Scott, a high school teammate of Sams’, is expected to stay, along with Tim Bynum, Dedrick Early, Jeremy Avery, and Christopher Stanley.

          McCook is almost as amped about the potential additions on the staff as he is about the new head coach and the assistants who are staying.

          And what they’ll have waiting on the field.

          The Demons return starting quarterback Chase Reese – ahead of schedule in recovering from a late-season ACL injury – as well as Isiah Canion, the quarterback favorite heading into camp who then developed into a go-to receiver before returning to QB in the playoffs and still leading Warner Robins to the finale.

          They combined to go 140 for 234, 59.9 percent, for 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and 2,085 yards.

          Trey Gunning (275 yards, four TDs) is the only running back with real experience back, but Cam Flowers has running skills, although he’s the top returning receiver. And there is experience on the offensive line.

          The defense lost its top five tacklers, but defensive end Isuag Gibson and defensive back Rasean Dinkins key a unit that has is a little young but has plenty of experience.