Taylor County’s Wilson leaves, Lamar County makes hire
When Mark Wilson left Bryan County for Taylor County, it wasn’t easy.
He had been at the Pembroke school for five seasons and had a winning record at a program not used to winning records. Wilson took the Taylor County job because his father, battling cancer, lived a short distance away. His father died in November of 2015.
“I got to spend the last year of his life here,” Wilson said. “I got to spend a lot of quality time with him.”
Family ties are sending Wilson back to the Savannah area as he resigned last week to return to Bryan County.
Allen Cartwright, an assistant under Wilson there and his successor, had resigned and taken a position as defensive coordinator at Effingham County to create the opening.
“It’s really a family situation,” the 53-year-old Wilson said. “It’s better for me over there. Family concerns, it’s better for me to be over there. That job came open, and they offered it to me.”
Wilson has a son and a grandchild in that area, and one son, Matt — who played for his dad at Americus-Sumter — will join the staff. Matt Wilson is at Bacon County.
“If it was football, I’d be crazy to leave,” Mark Wilson said. “Taylor County’s been good to me, my family. ”
Wilson went 13-9 in two seasons, including 10-2 in 2016. That was the Vikings’ highest win total since going 13-1 in 1998 under Bill Montgomery.
The Vikings are 225-228-4, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website, and they are 95-85 since 2000.
One reason Wilson’s decision was a difficult one was because of what’s left in the Taylor County cupboard.
Quarterback Gunnar Watson, who has committed to Troy, returns, as does running back Lyn-J Dixon, who is one of the top running backs in the state in any class. Receiver/defensive back Tommie Boyington, receiver Jackson Knight and top defenders Derrick Farley, Rashad Wonnum and Markeyce Troutman are all underclassmen. Center Trent Clark was a first-team all-region pick, along with Watson, Dixon and Knight.
Nine of Taylor County’s top 15 tacklers last year were underclassmen.
“The kids just worked hard,” Wilson said. “Anything we asked them to do, they did. They bought into the weight room and just worked hard.”
Wilson also has been the Vikings’ baseball head coach, and Taylor County is rolling along at 17-1. Wilson will remain as the baseball head coach until the end of the season, and he knows that his successor in both sports won’t be in rebuilding modes.
“Next year’s going to be good in both of them,” Wilson said.
One successor already has been named. Offensive coordinator Bob Yevak was promoted Friday to the football head coaching position. Yevak has been with Wilson for most of the past 20 years, except for Wilson’s time at Bryan County.
“We’ve been together for a while,” Wilson said. “He’ll do a great job, he’ll do a wonderful job. It’ll be a good transition.”
Taylor County is also looking for a boys' basketball head coach and football assistant. Gerald Tranquille is leaving to be the football head coach and athletics director at Vernon in Vernon, Florida.
Tranquille graduated in 2000 from Liberty in Bristol, Florida, and came to Taylor County from Blountstown, Florida. The Vikings went 19-6 last season, losing 63-35 to Class 1A public state champ Wilkinson County in the quarterfinals.
Lamar County didn’t need long to hire its latest head coach, grabbing John Flath from the college ranks less than three weeks after that position became open.
Flath was the offensive coordinator for four seasons and recruiting coordinator for one at Southeastern University, an NAIA program located in Lakeland, Florida.
Wilson coached at Lamar County from 1996-2002, winning at least six games five times.
He was followed by Calvin Scandrett (2003-07), Jason Strickland (2008-11), Franklin Stephens (2012-13) and Jamie Abrams (2014-15). Bryan Love resigned in mid-March after one season to take over at Woodland in Henry County.
Flath brings a broad resume to Barnesville. He was a three-year letterman at Florida State at offensive tackle from 1988-92, helping the Seminoles to major bowls, including the Sugar, Fiesta and Cotton.
Flath’s coaching career began as an assistant at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, and he spent a season each Samford Seminole and Orlando Edgewater.
He then took over as head coach at Orlando University High and helped that program to a record nine wins in 2003 and its second trip to the playoffs.
From 2006-12, he was the offensive line coach at Lakeland, which went 87-8 with a state championship and runner-up finish in that span. Then he moved to Southeastern, which was just starting a program.
The move brings Flath closer to his son Jake, who will be a sophomore offensive tackle at Mercer this fall.
This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Taylor County’s Wilson leaves, Lamar County makes hire."