Northside set to make more than a splash hire with Langston Hughes' Williams reportedly taking the job
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
There’s been a longstanding trend in Houston County, and certainly at Northside, to stay in-house, so to speak, when hiring coaches.
Northside has been big on connections to the program, with head coaches and assistants.
The last head football coach the school hired had no such connections, and he lost his job after two quick and rough seasons back in early November.
Northside is going outside, way outside and way up, for its latest head coach.
Boone Williams is expected to be voted on and approved at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled Houston County Board of Education meeting as the next coach at Northside.
The move was first posted on X by Phil Jones of ITG Next just before 5 p.m., only that Williams was taking the job.
The Langston Hughes athletic department’s X account made it unofficially official when it posted the opening at 6:40 p.m.
If approved, it’s a bombshell in Houston County, and statewide.
Williams went 63-17 in six seasons at Hughes, with three region titles and the 2022 Class 6A state title, the Panthers going 15-0 and outscoring opponents 792-177, setting a state scoring record, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.
Hughes lost 21-20 to Buford in the 2021 6A final and 56-35 to nationally ranked Milton last month in the 5A championship.
The Sports Report has reached out by email to Williams. He confirmed the move to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday night.
Hughes went 2-8 in Williams’ first year, 2019, after he succeeded Willie Cannon. Hughes had consecutive 10-2 records in 2012-13, and Cannon left with a 60-49 mark in 10 seasons.
Williams’ name began cropping up not long after Ben Bailey’s departure in early November, a very surprising name to crop up, considering his success in metro Atlanta, Northside proclivity for seeking out familiar names, and how far the program had dropped.
Plus, Hughes was Williams’ first head coach job. The Creekside graduate was promoted from his defensive backs position to succeed Cannon, who is the school’s athletics director. Williams was also associated head coach and co-defensive coordinator before his promotion after eight years as an assistant.
One reason he was reportedly interested was because of the desire for a challenge. He’ll get one.
The Eagles finished last in Region 2-5A, going 2-8 overall and 0-5 in region play, losing to winless Veterans to end the season, its eighth straight loss.
Bailey went 6-15 in two seasons, a short period marked by some discipline issues, a staff of mostly community coaches, and a fan base that was never on board with the hire to succeed Chad Alligood.
The Eagles failed to win at least five games eight times in program history, and two came in the past two seasons. Meanwhile, Perry and Warner Robins remained ranked teams, having surpassed Northside a few years ago.
Losses the past two years were record-setting. Northside gave up 50 points or more four times in 2024, and failed to crack double figures in six games, albeit in one of the toughest regions in the state in any classification.
Only three of the 15 losses the past two seasons were by two scores or less.
The board is also expected to vote on a new head coach at Veterans. Josh Ingram resigned in late November.
The schools conducted interviews last week.