Coaches weigh in on time needed to turn a program around
The recent news of head football coach Travis Roland’s dismissal from Camden County High School caught many observers around the state by surprise and raised the question of how long a new head football coach needs to win or at least show improvement in the program.
Roland lasted only two seasons at Camden County, having been hired prior to the 2024 season. He was 13-8 overall but just 3-7 in region play. His team did not make the playoffs for the 2025 season. It was the first time since 2017 that Camden County did not qualify for the postseason.
Regardless of what you think about the win-loss record and lack of playoff success, the big question in the case of Roland and really any other head football coach might be: How many years should a head football coach be given to succeed?
That’s a tough question, and there’s likely not a “one size fits all” answer.
That’s why I decided to reach out to head football coaches around the state and to one well-known play-by-play announcer to ask their opinions and thoughts on just how long newly hired head football coaches (or really any coach in any sport) should be given to show progress with their new teams.
The answers were, for the most part, consistent in the number of years or seasons a new coach should be given to show progress and get things turned around, with most agreeing that every situation needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
John Reid, Head Football Coach at Rome High School
“There should be change shown on day one, but overall a coach should be winning more games and producing a gradual progression by year three,” Reid said. “In terms of how many wins is enough, there are a ton of factors, including schedule, returning players, change of region, etc.”
Reid is as qualified as anyone in the state to answer this question from his personal experiences as a newly hired head football coach with several programs.
“I have won two state championships in my second year at a school,” Reid said.
He accomplished that at Rome High School and at Alcoa High School in Tennessee in just his second season as the head football coach with each program. He also led East Paulding to its first-ever playoff berth in his first year and took Tift County to its first playoff berth in six years in his third season.
“We knocked Camden and Lowndes out of playoff contention to get there,” Reid said.
Eric Godfree, Head Football Coach at North Gwinnett High School
“I would say give the coach a minimum of three years,” Godfree said. “That gives him time for his ninth-graders to grow and become juniors. That is the biggest impact of kids he can have physically based on how he runs his program.”
Godfree should know. He took over a Parkview program that had suffered through a 3-7 season the year before he arrived. He improved the team to four wins in his first year, then to six wins in his second season, before an 8-4 season in year three led to nine wins the next year, followed by an 11-1 season in 2018.
Drew Swick, Head Football Coach at Collins Hill High School
“A new head football coach needs three to four seasons, which allows a full career of his freshman class until they can become seniors,” Swick said.
Swick has lived it.
Following the Eagles’ state championship season in 2021, the team stumbled to a 4-6 season and missed the playoffs in 2022, marking the end of the Lenny Gregory era.
Swick was promoted to the role of head coach in 2023 from his defensive coordinator position and returned the Eagles to the playoffs while leading the team to a 5-7 record. He led Collins Hill to a win over North Cobb in Round 1 of the playoffs.
The next year, in Swick’s second season, he led Collins Hill to an 11-2 season and the Class 6A state quarterfinals.
Jonathan Gess, Head Football Coach at Southside Christian, Former Head Football Coach at Hebron Christian and Eagle’s Landing Christian
“I think it’s four years,” Gess said of how many seasons a new coach should be given, but added that a noticeable change should come sooner. “I think a change in culture should be seen in year one. Not winning, but a change in culture, then winning needs to start in seasons two, three, and four.”
Gess is just the third coach in the history of Georgia high school football to have won seven or more state championships. He won six state titles with ELCA before leading Hebron Christian to a state championship in 2024.
Gess then took over a team in South Carolina that had finished 2-8 in 2024 and had missed the state playoffs. In his first season as the Sabres’ head coach this year, Gess led Southside Christian to a 6-6 overall record and the second round of the playoffs.
Dr. Mike McCartney, Play-by-Play Announcer at Cook High School
McCartney has been calling the Cook Hornets’ games since 2002, when he began as a color commentator before taking over the play-by-play duties in 2006.
McCartney has seen eight different head football coaches hired at Cook over his 23 years in the press box, so he has a unique perspective on the time that coaches should be given to succeed and or show improvement.
“You can’t build a culture and a program in less than three years, especially if the program was in shambles when the coach got there,” McCartney said. “It all boils down to the Jimmys and Joes too. If you don’t have or develop the talent, you ain’t going to win.”
Jeff Littleton, Head Football Coach at Tift County High School
“I feel like every situation is different, and there needs to be progress in areas of the team and not problems,” Littleton said.
Littleton took over a Tift County football program that has struggled to win consistently over the past decade, with 2018 representing the last time Tift County advanced past Round 1 of the state playoffs. Littleton just completed his second season at Tift County and led the team to a three-win season this year after the Blue Devils finished with two wins in Littleton’s first year.
However, Tift County is a situation that demands a different perspective on the definition of showing improvement, as Littleton explained.
“After evaluating the situation of the program’s football history, I told my administration that this would be a five-year project to get our football team to a point where we could expect to see a turnaround, where we could expect to start winning on a consistent basis,” Littleton said.
There has been a noticeable difference in the direction of the program under Littleton in his first two seasons. Tift County is one of those situations where, indeed, progress is measured in more than wins and losses, especially when you’re attempting to show improvement in a region like Region 1-6A.
