Tommy Atha to take over Cedartown football program

Cedartown shook up the high school coaching carousel last month when it fired head coach Jamie Abrams and now the Bulldogs have named Tommy Atha as the program's next head coach.

Atha most-recently served as Class 3A champion Calhouns offensive coordinator and this is his second head coaching job after leading Darlington from 2002 to 2022.

He coached the Tigers to region championships in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2021 and 2022.He lost just three games in the 2021 and 2022 seasons at Darlington and featured in the quarterfinal and second rounds of the playoffs, respectively. His best playoff run was in 2009 when Darlington advanced to the semifinals.

Atha takes over a Cedartown program with immensely high expectations.

Abrams had success with the Bulldogs and led the team to a quarterfinal exit in 2020 (8-3 record), a semifinals appearance in 2021 (11-2) and a championship loss in 2022 (14-1). But in 2023 the team finished 8-4 and lost in the second round. Last season, despite an 9-1 regular season record, the Bulldogs lost to Cambridge 51-44 in the first round, which could have been the final straw, so to speak.