Coaching carousel: Catching up with Taylor County, Crawford County; no ball in '26 for Covenant; Upson-Lee, Dublin, Westside, Gatewood
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Catching up: DeVoursney to Taylor County, Wilson to Crawford County
Two area programs had to do some fairly late shuffling to fill their football openings.
Jess DeVoursney took over at Taylor County in the spring, while Matt Wilson is the new boss at Crawford County.
Taylor County became open when Brandon Byram left in March for the top job at Charlton County. The school didnât need long to promote DeVoursney, part of the Central Georgia DeVoursney coaching tree.
DeVoursney, son of Veterans head coach Steven, joined Byramâs initial staff at Taylor County and has been the Vikingsâ defensive coordinator, having coached at Cairo after graduating from LaGrange College, where he played linebacker.
The Crawford County opening was a quiet surprise.
The board of educationâs meetings for May 12 listed Dusty Jumpâs resignation â for football and girls basketball â for a new position. Online searches came up empty.
As it turns out, he has joined the Macon County staff of new head coach Spoon Risper as defensive coordinator.
Wilson knows the area as well. The son of former Taylor County (and Lamar County) head coach Mark Wilson.
Named in the middle of June, Wilson comes from Tattnall County, where he was the defensive coordinator.
He graduated from Americus, and had his college career at the University of the Cumberlands cut shot with an injury.
No Covenant football in 2026
Covenant has gone from optimism to nothing in football in all of half a year.
The small school on Ayers Road announced in December that it was moving up from 8-man football in the GIAA to 11-man football.
As the saying goes, the eyes were bigger than the stomach.
Clint Humphrey resigned as head football coach in May as it became clear the school wouldnât have enough players to compete on an 8-man level, let alone with 11 players.
He is staying on as athletic director.
Humphrey said last yearâs team had 26 players, but one moved to Texas, and another to Toledo, Ohio. Three others headed to other local schools.
It added up â or down â to about nine players showing up for off-season work.
Also part of the decision was GIAA reclassification. Humphrey said that a Class AAA school playing 8-man felt unfair, and Covenantâs hopeful ability to be competitive in Class AA 11-man mightâve been better.
Alas, Westminster-Augusta and Sherwood Christian moved up from 8-man to 11-man, after Covenant had made its decision to cancel football for at least 2026.
He said Covenantâs enrollment for grades 8-11, as per last fallâs GIAA reclassification, was barely over 100, ranking as the smallest Class AA school.
âIt was a hard decision,â Humphrey said. âI just hope we can hire the right head coach and get things going again.â
Transition continues at Upson-Lee
There will be plenty of familiarity on the sideline and in the coaches box for new head coach Logan Winkles.
The Upson Beacon recently posted an update on the growing staff of first-year head coach and longtime Knight Logan Winkles.
Winkles continues the trend of an alumni-heavy collection of hires, including former major recruit David Marshall, who played on the defensive line at Georgia.
Other Upson-Lee alums joining Walker on Winklesâ staff (some previously reported by The Sports Report: offensive coordinator Kalen Puckett, defensive coordinator Zakarriyan Walker, running backs coach Tyrone Perry, defensive line coach Wesley Bentley, offensive line coach Niterrian Walker, tight ends/fullbacks coach Brady Puckett.
New baseball boss at Dublin
A coach with college and rebuilding experience is taking over the Dublin baseball program.
The school announced Brian Young as the new head baseball coach last month.
He succeeds Brian Brown in baseball.
Brown was named head coach in April of 2024, and is taking his 330-plus wins to Treutlen, which announced that move on June 1, having gone 40-22 in two seasons with the Irish.
Young took over a team at LeMoyne-Owen, an HBCU in Memphis, that had four players, and grew it to the point of turning out All-SIAC players.
Young has also had success rebuilding out-of-state high school programs.
More at Crawford County
The school also announced Dee Thompson as the new girls basketball coach and Kim Tilley as the new head volleyball coach, with no other information offered.
Thompson was promoted to replace Jordan Hall, who went 9-18 in his lone season as head coach after being hired 13 months ago.
On the court
Westside announced in a social media post that Cornellius Walker is the new head girls basketball coach.
Walker became available when âI was told they would like to go in a different direction this past week by my AD and Principal,â he posted on Facebook in mid-March.
According to information input by the school to MaxPreps, the Cougars went 12-11 last season, sixth in Region 1/Division II.
Walker is a Calhoun County grad, and was head coach â according to his post â for 16 seasons, although MaxPreps information indicates 14 seasons.
One thing thatâs clear is that Calhoun County won the Class A Public girls state title in 2020-21, topping Clinch County 49-45 in the Macon Coliseum.
As per info on MaxPreps, Walker went 227-147 at his alma mater.
He replaces Candice Roberson, Westsideâs athletics director, who resigned as coach in March after her 14th season.
Westside will start the 2026-27 year with new head coaches in football, girls basketball, boys basketball, and flag football. âŠ
Gatewood hired Scott Dennard in May as the new head boys basketball coach.
The Tattnall grad has been part of Gatewoodâs faculty and athletics staff for several years. He takes over for Don Keiser, who resigned after a half-dozen seasons.
After five straight 20-win seasons, the Gators fell to 2-20 last season.