Class 2A blog: A look at those in the running for 2A coach of the year

As the 2025 regular season approaches its end, the Score Atlanta High School Football Award races are coming into full focus. For the second year, Score Atlanta will honor the coach who has done the best coaching job this season.

The Class 2A race may be the closest of all the races this year, with no clear front runner.

Carver-Atlanta’s Darren Myles has cemented his name as one of the top coaches in the Atlanta area. Myles, now in his 21st year with the Panthers, is in every way the best coach in school history. While only five seasons removed from a state title appearance, the 2023 season may have been the toughest in Myles’ tenure. After going 2-8, the Panthers dropped from a 9-4 season in which they made the semifinals to barely sneaking into the playoffs and posting their worst record since 2011. Last year they took a step forward, winning eight games and making the second round, but this year has been a coaching masterclass by Coach Myles. In a tough region with Holy Innocents’, Lovett, and Hapeville Charter, Carver has all but secured the region title with two games to go. A win in either of their final two games against Therrell or Lovett will clinch the region title.

From Carver-Atlanta, we move to defending champion Carver-Columbus. The Tigers lost coach Pierre Coffey after last season, their second head coach to depart in the past four years following a championship appearance. The other was Corey Joyner, who left after the 2021 season. Coffey was replaced by Carver alum Jarvis Jones. The Tigers’ 8-0 start is their best since 2020. Though Carver was expected to be great, Jones was a question mark with no major high school coaching experience. However, the Tigers have not missed a beat and are once again expected to compete for the title.

In Region 8, Franklin County is having a breakout season under third-year head coach Chuck Holland. The Lions have improved every year under Holland, winning one game in year one, three games last year, and currently sitting at 6-1 this season. This year marks the team’s first winning season since 2020 and only its second in the past decade. Holland has turned the program around and built one of the most underrated teams in the state.

Class 2A Top 10 schedule

No. 1 Craver-Columbus is on bye.

No. 2 Pierce County hosts Crisp County.

No. 3 Morgan County travels to Jackson.

No. 4 Carver-Atlanta travels to Therrell.

No. 5 Rockmart heads to Lakeview Ft. Oglethorpe.

No. 6 Callaway is on bye.

No. 7 Sumter is on bye.

No. 8 heads to Lovett in a key region game.

No. 9 Thomson is on bye.

No. 10 Burke is on bye.

‍