Tim Cokely Named White County Football Coach

CLEVELAND, Ga. — Tim Cokely, a highly successful prep football coach in Florida, is the new head football coach at White County High School.

Cokely has had a highly successful 27-year coaching career that includes 185 wins, 73 losses and six state championships. He was introduced at a press conference Thursday in the school’s Media Center by Athletic Director Alan Griffin. In 2016, he led Leon High School in Tallahassee to a 7-3 record last year.

Griffin said, “We are thrilled to have Coach Cokely here. We received more than 70 applications and conducted six interviews.”

“It’s great to be a Warrior,” Cokely said. “I realize you are trusting me with your most precious commodity, your children.”

Cokely said he met with assistant coaches in the morning and is going through a process to determine which ones will remain.

“The process will take some time,” he said. “In situations like this there is always a little bit of angst but there shouldn’t be. We’ll go through it the right way.”

Asked about changes in the offensive and defensive schemes, Cokely said, ” I have to coach what I know. I’m basically a one back, inside run, zone stretch coach. I’ve always been involved in the offense and call all the plays. But I typically hire a guy to coach the defense so I haven’t had much say on that side of the ball. I do believe in putting our best players on defense.

Cokely has coached a number of players whose skills took them all the way to the NFL like tight end Dwayne Carswell (Broncos), Ernie Sims (Lions, Colts and Cowboys) and Antonio Cromartie (Jets).

Cokely will replace Bill Ballard, who announced in November that he was stepping down as the White County football coach after six years. Ballard remains with the school as head track coach.