Newnan names Walker coach

Chip Walker, who won three football state titles at Sandy Creek, is the new coach at Newnan, a Class AAAAAAA school about 25 minutes away.

“Newnan is a program that you see and think how good of a job that can be because of the community and great facilities, and they’ve always had good players,’’ Walker said. “It’s everything you’re looking for.’’

Sandy Creek was 127-26-1 in 12 seasons under Walker and won state titles in 2009 (AAAA), 2010 (AAA) and 2012 (AAAA).

Walker said the move to a higher classification was not a factor in his decision.

“No, not to me,’’ Walker said. “It doesn’t matter what classification we play in. We’ve always played teams from higher classifications here (at Sandy Creek). Football is football. We’re going to go in and do what we can to build it back into a championship program.’’

Walker will replace Mike McDonald, whose teams were 56-37 in eight seasons, including 3-7 in 2016.

Newnan has won 10 region titles but never a state championship.

North Fulton moves: Northview hired a coach last week, and Milton let one go. That brings to five the number of football coaching changes among the 10 public schools in north Fulton County this offseason.

Northview hired UCLA assistant James Thomson, who made his name in the high school ranks in 2012, when he led Gainesville, Fla., to its first state final in 32 years. Thomson later coached at DeLand High but left in midseason to join UCLA’s staff. He was assistant running backs coach under his uncle, Kennedy Polamalu, the offensive coordinator.

Milton parted ways with Howie DeCristofaro, whose teams were 39-28 in six seasons. The 2014 team was 11-2, the best finish in school history, but Milton was 4-6 and 5-6 the past two seasons.

Centennial, Johns Creek and Roswell were other north Fulton schools that have had openings.

Roswell’s John Ford took the Buford job, and that was filled by Johns Creek’s Matt Kemper. The Johns Creek job remains open.

Centennial’s Lenny Gregory took the Collins Hill job. Centennial is still open.

Bleckley County fills job: Von Lassiter, who led Houston County to unprecedented heights with star quarterback Jake Fromm, this week became head football coach at his alma mater, Bleckley County.

Lassiter’s teams were 35-12 in his four seasons at Houston County. Fromm, who in January enrolled early at the University of Georgia, passed for 12,817 yards and 116 touchdowns in that time.

Bleckley County has had only four winning seasons (most recently 9-3 in 2013) since Lassiter graduated from the school in 1997. Bleckley County was 2-8 last season.

Two Naismith finalists: Wendell Carter of Pace Academy and Collin Sexton of Pebblebrook are among the 10 finalists named Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club for the 2017 Naismith High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Georgia is the only state with more than one finalist. The list will be trimmed to five Feb. 22. Carter signed with Duke and Sexton with Alabama.

Chip Walker led Sandy Creek to three state titles.