Faced with an unimaginable offseason tragedy with its football coach, Spalding High in Griffin has turned to an old friend to lead the program again. Nick Davis, a Griffin native with 24 years of head coaching experience, was approved by the Griffin-Spalding Schools board Friday afternoon to return to the job he held from 2011 to 2018.

Tim Scott was approved Monday to become the Georgia High School Association’s new executive director starting July 1. Scott will succeed Robin Hines, who has held the position since 2017. Scott spoke with Todd Holcomb this week on topics ranging from his football-playing days to the challenges ahead running the GHSA.

Tim Scott, approved unanimously Monday as the Georgia High School Association’s executive director effective July 1, says he will make communication and openness his priorities when he takes the job, succeeding the retiring Robin Hines. Scott will be the GHSA’s seventh to fill the role and the second behind Hines to join the association from outside of it.

The Georgia High School Association will meet Monday in Macon with a light agenda that peaks with the expected approval of Tim Scott as the retiring Robin Hines’ replacement as executive director. Scott, the superintendent of Dalton Public Schools since 2018, was announced as the sole finalist March 18 by the GHSA’s board of trustees, which served as the interview committee for the position.

Savannah Country Day hired a football coach Monday while Spalding is expected to approve one Tuesday, which would add up to 67 offseason hires with four jobs still open in Georgia. Savannah Country Day settled on Roc Batten, a former Vanderbilt player who has been a head coach for 13 seasons in the Nashville area.

Maurice Freeman, a 250-game winner who led alma mater Brooks County to state titles in 1994 and 2021, resigned Friday and is expected to take an out-of-state job. Brooks County Schools announced the news and said that Josh McFather would be promoted to head coach on an interim basis.

Starr’s Mill promoted defensive backs coach David Cooper to head football coach on Monday. Cooper will replace retiring coach Chad Phillips. Cooper has been on the Starr’s Mill staff since 2015. He coached at Sandy Creek from 2005 to 2014 and was part of three state-championship teams.

Dalton Public Schools superintendent Tim Scott is the GHSA board of trustees’ choice to become the association’s next executive director, succeeding Robin Hines, the GHSA announced Monday. The GHSA’s 75-member executive committee will vote to approve Scott’s hire at its spring meeting April 15 in Macon.

Football teams playing in the state championship games earned 54% less on average despite record attendance in the return to the more expensive Mercedes-Benz Stadium in December, GHSA records show. The 16 finalists’ average disbursement was $9,795 compared to $21,068 in 2022.

Travis Roland, who led Mainland of Daytona Beach, Fla., to a state championship last season, will succeed Jeff Herron at Camden County. Roland’s Mainland teams were 30-10 over three seasons. He is 58-22 overall with four previous seasons at Palm Coast in Flagler.

Twenty-five former Georgia high school players are among the 321 invitees to the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins Monday and runs through March 4 in Indianapolis. The 25 Georgians include only one former five-star recruit, Bleckley County’s Amarius Mims, but all 25 were outstanding high school players.

Spalding football coach Carl Kearney Jr. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder for the strangulation death of his girlfriend in Maryland, Prince George’s County police reported late Sunday evening. Kearney, 43, entered a Clinton, Md., police station Saturday morning and confessed to strangling Patrina Best, 38, during an argument in her Accokeek, Md., home, the police report said.

Tift County approved Jeff Littleton as its football coach at a called board meeting Friday afternoon. Littleton led Bainbridge to a 2018 Class 5A championship and has won region titles the past four seasons. His record is 91-46 over 11 seasons, all at Bainbridge. Tift County has not won a playoff game since its 2018 Class 7A quarterfinal run..

Kevin Whitley, who built Stockbridge into a state power before moving into college coaching at Georgia Southern, is the new football coach at Northgate in Coweta County. Whitley’s Stockbridge record was 99-28 in 10 seasons with five region titles at a school that had never won a playoff game until after his arrival in 2009.