After years of waiting, Belflower gets the call to be head coach, taking over at Central Fellowship

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Ted Belflower’s coaching career began in Tennessee, and soon moved to Georgia and GHSA schools.

          Yet 31 years into that coaching career, Belflower’s first gig as a head football coach isn’t where he would have expected a few years ago.

          Belflower has been promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach at Central Fellowship, the move coming in his first year with his second GIAA school.

          CFCA made it official with a social media post Friday morning.

          Belflower succeeds Jake Walls, also the school’s principal and athletics director who announced his resignation in January, effective at the end of the year.

          CFCA moves up a class to AAA in GIAA play next year.

          “He’s excited and looking forward to that challenge,” Walls said. “Going to AAA makes it an even bigger challenge, but he’s ready.”

          The announcement is the second one of note for CFCA, the school adding longtime local coach and administrator Todd Whetsel as athletics director.

          Belflower has been up for other head coaching jobs, including at alma mater Dodge County, but couldn’t get over the hump.

          The Lancers get a new head coach different than the old coach, one with stints at four schools that have won state GHSA titles in the last 15 years (Macon County, Hawkinsville, Northside, and Dublin) as well as regular playoff visitors (Bleckley County and Dodge County).

          Central Fellowship has some experience with that, winning three straight GIAA Class AA state titles, from 2020-22.

          He retired from the public school system after coaching wingbacks at Dublin, and moved to Tattnall for a year as defensive coordinator.

          After a coaching change at Tattnall, Belflower joined Walls’ staff at Central Fellowship.

          The married father of two has been an offensive coordinator at Macon County, Bleckley County, Dodge County, and Hawkinsville, and defensive coordinator at Tattnall and CFCA.

          He has also coached tight ends and wingbacks.

          “He’s ready, he’ll do a great job,” Walls said. “He's he's unbelievable in the weight room. I mean that's really his gift. Really does a great job.”

          CFCA’s class schedule doesn’t allow for the weight classes scheduled at most schools. And the Lancers, like most small schools, have scores of players participating in multiple sports.

          “He's done a good job of administering that and finding a way to say, ‘OK, we don't have any games on Wednesday, so that's going to be a heavy day. And I want to find another day in the week that's going to be a heavy day,’” Walls said. “ ‘And we're going to do agility when there when there's four games.

          “So everybody doesn't run for the hills and try to hide, you know. He's done a good job of managing all that.”