Skip to main content
Join

Gaffney (S.C.) finds its new head, replacing retired legend Dan Jones

Wg0vf-nP_400x400by:Keegan Pope•01/22/25•

bykeeganpope

Syndication: The Anderson Independent Mail
Gaffney Head Coach Dan Jones during the fourth quarter of State Class 5A football playoff game with TL Hanna High at Gaffney High School in Gaffney, S.C. Friday, November 29, 2024. © Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the most coveted head coaching jobs in South Carolina high school football didn’t stay on the market very long.

Five days after its all-time winningest coach Dan Jones officially announced his retirement, Gaffney (S.C.) has found its next head man. The Indians have promoted longtime staffer Donnie Littlejohn, the team’s offensive coordinator and a former Gaffney player, to replace Jones.

The latter retired as Gaffney’s winningest coach with a 140-53 record and two state championships. He also played for the school before embarking on a 33-year career there that included 18 years as an assistant and 15 more as head coach. He made his intentions known in February that this was his final year as head coach.

“It’s just my time and I’ve been blessed to do it, with so many great assistants,” Jones told WSPA-TV at the time. “It’s not about me, it’s about the kids.”

In addition to their 15-0 run to a state title in 2021, Gaffney also won the 2012 state championship and was runner-up in 2011. Jones won 10-plus games six times during the decade and a half as head coach. And more impressively, the program had just one losing season under his leadership — 2014 when the Indians were 4-8.

Overall, he won a total of seven state championships as a coach, bringing home titles 1992,1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006 as an assistant with the program. 

Littlejohn will look to continue the program’s dominant ways

A 1997 graduate of the school, Littlejohn played offensive line before a four-year career at Furman, where he started 44 of 46 career games. He was an assistant with the Gaffney program from 2002-2010, when he was promoted to offensive coordinator. And he held that position for the entirety of Jones’ tenure as head coach.

He’ll have some great building blocks to start his own reign with, headlined by Arkansas quarterback commit Jayvon Gilmore, who threw for 2,510 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior.

The Indians have a handful of other college prospects on the roster, including Virginia Tech commit Zion Dawkins, a 2028 standout who has two interceptions last year as a freshman.