Fans of high school football in Middle Georgia were caught off guard by separate announcements from two successful high school football coaches that they were leaving their respective programs, with one coach headed to a known destination and the other yet to be announced.
Crisp County head football coach Miguel Patrick is leaving after just one season at the helm of Crisp’s football program. He came to Crisp County from Cedar Grove High School, where he led the Saints to the 2019 state championship.
When asked if he could share with us where his next stop was going to be, Patrick told Phil Jones of ITG Next Georgia in a text message, “Lol…not yet.”
Crisp County immediately announced that former assistant coach Lawrence Smith had been promoted to the position of head football coach.
The other announcement comes from longtime ELCA head coach Jonathan Gess, who will be taking the head coaching job at Hebron Christian. Gess told ITG Next Georgia in a phone interview about his decision to leave ELCA and take over the Lions football program.
“I really wasn’t looking to leave ELCA,” said Gess. “I’ve been there for 15 years, and we did great things there. But the Head of School at Hebron Christian called me, and we met, and he shared his vision for what he thought we can do there with the football program.”
Gess elaborated on his reasoning.
“We came to ELCA 15 years ago and built a great program, so why can’t we go to Hebron Christian and build it, too?” Gess said.
