Georgia state champion coach hired to resurrect struggling Tennessee private school program

Greg Vandgriff, the highly successful head coach at one of Georgia’s top high school football programs over the past decade, has been a found a new job in Tennessee.

On Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Vandagriff, the father of former Georgia and Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff, was taking over as head coach at Lakeway Christian Academy in Lake Pine, Tennessee.

The hiring comes after he resigned his position at Georgia powerhouse Prince Avenue Christian last week and was replaced by Jon Richt, the son of former UGA and Miami coach Mark Richt. Under Vandagriff’s watch, Prince Avenue Christian won more than 100 games since he took over in 2016, including five consecutive state championship appearances and three state titles.

Prince Avenue Christian is coming off of a 56-28 loss in December’s state championship game to Hebron Christian, which ended their hopes at a three-peat. After building the Wolverines into a powerhouse at the small-school level in Georgia, Vandagriff is tasked with turning around a team that finished just 1-9 last season and has won only 15 games since it opened in 2020.

“It’s a program that’s just started up and hasn’t had a ton of success, and they want to make a financial commitment to being successful, and it starts with hiring a head coach,” Vandagriff told The AJC. “I look forward to going home and helping them be successful.”