Report: Jones County football coach, athletic director resign

41NBC’s Justin Dierkes reached out to both men, as well as the school district, for further information.

GRAY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Jones County High School head football coach Mike Chastain and athletic director Chad Alligood have resigned. The news was first reported Monday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

41NBC’s Justin Dierkes reached out to both men, as well as School District Superintendent Charles Lundy, for further information. Both Alligood and Chastain confirmed their resignations.

“I made the decision that was best for me and my family,” Alligood told Dierkes. When asked about his next steps, he said, “Just seeing what God has next for me.”

Chastain declined to elaborate on his decision, saying he had no additional comment beyond Alligood’s statement.

41NBC has not heard back from Superintendent Charles Lundy.

Alligood was named Jones County’s athletic director in December 2022 after a three-year stint as Northside’s head football coach, where he compiled a 21-15 record from 2020 to 2022.

Chastain, who took over as head coach of the Greyhounds in 2019, leaves as the winningest coach in program history with a 56-20 record. His tenure included three straight region titles from 2019-2021, two semifinal appearances in his first two seasons, a quarterfinal appearance in year three, and three straight seasons reaching at least the first round of the playoffs.

Before his time in Gray, Chastain was head coach at Warner Robins from 2016 to 2018, leading the Demons to a 29-12 record and two state championship appearances.

The resignations come less than two weeks after both Chastain and Alligood spoke at a called school board meeting, where they defended their character and addressed accusations circulating on social media ranging from the questioning of the firing of an assistant coach to a change in the school’s apparel provider.

They were the focal points of the called meeting on January 23 to address issues initially brought forth in a Facebook post a week earlier from Jamey Huckeba, the former owner of Team Sports on Shurling Drive, who then became an employee of BSN Sports, a team equipment and apparel company. His post dealt mostly with Alligood’s management of the athletics department and a perceived declining usage of local businesses.

Huckeba’s January 18 Facebook post addressed issues dealing with Alligood when Huckeba still owned Team Sports, and then regarding bids and communication when Huckeba moved to BSN Sports. He also posted a list of counters to Alligood’s charges on January 25.

At the January 23 meeting, Chastain addressed the firing of defensive coordinator Will Conner. The Hawkinsville alum took over at his alma mater in 2016, two years after the Red Devils won the GHSA Class A state title under head coach David Daniell.

Conner went 10-22 in three seasons there before serving as an assistant at Crisp County and Bleckley County. He joined the Jones County staff in the spring of 2023, along with five other new assistants.

Chastain said at the board meeting, “Through Facebook and all that kind of stuff, I feel like my integrity and character have been attacked, and I want to make sure everybody understands I would never ever disclose any of this information. I feel like it has to be disclosed.”

Chastain told the board how important trust is in running a program, between coaches and with coaches and players. That was no longer there between Chastain and Conner, he said.

“I have had issues with Coach Conner for over a year now,” Chastain said. “We had a talk before, about a year ago, but it has been evident that Coach Conner is not happy working with my coaching staff. It’s evident that he is not willing to comply with my requests.”

“As the days went on, I felt like I kept losing trust in my right-hand man,” Chastain continued. “Meanwhile, he has been going around telling other coaches how unhappy he is coaching here. Coach Conner complained to many people throughout the school about the way I run the program and me as a person.”

Chastain posted the opening for defensive coordinator and said he heard from a Hawkinsville native who discussed how much he disliked Coach Conner, and that call was on speakerphone, and Coach Alligood heard it, too. For stabbing coach Cam Black in the back.”

Black was Hawkinsville’s head coach from 2008-12, and has coached at Crisp County, Peach County and Hawkinsville since then.

“I believe that Will Conner was trying to set himself up to try and become the head coach here at Jones,” Chastain said. “I just cannot understand the reason for telling our AD and the principal how unhappy you are without ever coming to me and expressing any of that.”

Chastain said it was his decision alone, and he told Alligood afterward about the move. He said Conner failed to deal with or address several situations Chastain delegated.

Alligood immediately spoke to the board after Chastain on January 23, and began by reiterating that team personnel decisions were each head coach’s decision, not his. Then, he addressed the post and reaction of Huckeba, who spoke earlier in the meeting.

“I do not participate in gossip or juvenile social media platforms like Facebook,” Alligood said. “For the last week, my character and integrity have been challenged by a select group unlike any I’ve experienced in my 30 years in this profession,” he said. “Before I took over, there were very few, if any, checks and balances on money collected, gate deposits, and booster clubs. Most things were done with cash with very little oversight. Most of this is in violation of the PSC (Professional Standards Commission) and accounting audits.@

Alligood said the department has cleaned up those issues with accounting audits, among other things, and no longer allowing coaches “to be on booster club accounts” where they had “free access to all funds.” “This is a major PSC violation, and all coaches and administrators who took part in this should have been reported to the PSC,” he said.

He then addressed the charges by Huckeba, noting that when he was hired, he saw a need for restructuring how teams and vendors did business, noting that the school got invoices with no purchase order numbers and multiple billings of the same invoice.

“In the past, booster clubs were allowed to use the school tax exempt number with team sports,” Alligood said. “Which is a major tax fraud and illegal liability for the school system.”

He said coaches unanimously agreed to leave Team Sports, and noted that his dealings with BSN Sports while at Northside were not good, so he sought other vendor choices, eventually settling with Baker Sports, based in Jacksonville, Florida.

“We chose Baker because the service, and deals our individual head coaches would get for their sport, and comp money for them to use with their teams,” Alligood said. “The A.D. gets zero from this agreement.”

He said Huckeba “sent a nasty email to me” about the decision. “I will never be bullied or pressured to make decisions for someone else’s personal gain,” Alligood said. “I’m hired to make sure the Jones County school system is doing things by the law and ethically correct.”

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for February 11.