The first spin of the Central Georgia football coaching carousel: Northside's Bailey resigns
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Three days after one of its most disappointing losses in decades completed its most disappointing seasons in decades, Northside is in the market for its fourth head coach in less than a decade.
Ben Bailey resigned Monday morning, school athletics director Mark Jones confirmed.
Bailey departs with a 6-15 record, leaving with the fewest wins in Northside history, according to the Northside football website, which lists 1964 as the first season and Matt Arthur as the first head coach. The Georgia High School Football Historians Daily has a 1-8-1 year in 1963 as the first season, but doesn’t have a coach listed.
According to the GHSFHA, Northside went 3-4 in 1963. Bobby Rich in 1968 and Don Elam in 1981 each won seven games in their lone seasons leading the Eagles. Every other Northside head coach lasted at least three seasons, with Wally Bassett (19-20-10, 1969-72) and Arthur (12-24-4, 1964-67) the only other coaches to leave with a losing record.
The Eagles ended the season as the first victim of 2024 of Veterans, whose 17-0 win allowed the Warhawks to avoid their first winless season in program history.
Northside set program records for points allowed the last two seasons, and the 105 points scored in 2024 ranks as the fifth fewest, as per the GHSFHA. The Eagles gave up 180 points in a three-game stretch, more than Northside had given up in more than 40 different full seasons.
The two wins were the fewest at Northside since going 2-7 in 1970 under Bassett.
Bailey was named as the new head coach in the middle of January 2023, after one year as offensive coordinator at Peach County during Chad Campbell’s last year as head coach. He had the same position at Houston County from 2019-2021, with a year at Lee County in between.
The decision of then-principal Markeeta Clayton was a little unexpected, in part because of Bailey’s age – he graduated from Fullington in 2007 – and shorter resume than the others reportedly considered, a list that included Northside assistants Rod Harris, Don Hudson, and Matt Park, as well as former Northside offensive line standout and current Veterans assistant Jason Respert.
Bailey succeeded Chad Alligood, who had returned to Northside for the third time and went 21-15 in three seasons, and took over as athletics director at Jones County shortly after his resignation the preceding December. Alligood followed Kevin Kinsler, reportedly forced out after a 3-7 season in 2019, a year after taking the Eagles to the state championship game and five seasons after the Eagles won the 5A state title.
Bailey had also coached at Dooly County and West Laurens. His brother Brandon is Georgia Southern’s defensive coordinator.