Leroy Ryals coached seven seasons at Clarke Central before leaving to take the head coach and athletic director positions at Thomasville High School on Feb. 11, 2012. He coached the Gladiators to a state championship game appearance in 2009 and seven straight playoff berths.
By KEVIN MOBLEY – Print Editor-in-Chief
Cedar Shoals High School has hired its fourth head football coach in five years, none other than former Clarke Central head coach Leroy Ryals.
Cedar Shoals High School has added some fuel to the Classic City rivalry fire this week.
The ODYSSEY Newsmagazine has confirmed that principal Dr. Tony Price has hired Leroy Ryals, who served as the head varsity football coach at Clarke Central High School from 2006-12, as its next head coach.
Ryals will take over for Scott Wilkins, who was let go on Jan. 6 following the second season of his return stint at CSHS that resulted in a 2-18 record. Wilkins notched a 106-50-1 record as the Jaguars’ head coach from 1994-2007.
Ryals officially resigned from his position as head football coach and athletic director at Thomasville High School on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Thomasville City School District Superintendent Sabrina Boykins-Everett told the Thomasville Times-Enterprise that it was “mutually beneficial to both parties to go our separate ways.”
A Sarasota, Florida, native, Ryals coached at THS for three seasons, finishishing with a 15-17 overall record. After leading the team to back-to-back state playoff appearances in his first two seasons, the Bulldogs finished 1-8 in 2015.
Ryals left Clarke Central in 2013 with a 60-22-1 overall record, while compiling a .721 winning percentage in his seven years at CCHS. Those seven seasons included a trip to the AAAA State Championship game in 2009 in which the Gladiators lost to Sandy Creek High School 29-15 after a 12-3 season, as well as seven consecutive state playoff appearances.
The former Gladiators’ head coach also led the team to two region titles and three straight 10-win seasons from 2009-11. These three seasons under Ryals were the program’s winningest three-year stretch since 1984-86, a stretch under head coach Billy Henderson that included three straight region titles and state championship game appearances, the middle of these being the undefeated 1985 State Championship team.
Following Ryals’ departure, former Clarke Central defensive coordinator Ahren Self was named as the new head football coach on Feb. 15, 2013, just four days after Ryals accepted his position at Thomasville. Self, who ran the defense under Ryals for six seasons, led the Gladiators to a 16-15 overall record in three years as head coach, but elected to resign on Nov. 11, 2015, after a 4-6 finish this past season.
Since Ryals’ departure, Self led the Gladiators to three straight victories against Cedar Shoals: a 45-15 victory in 2013, a 44-29 win in 2014 that was completed on Saturday following a lightning delay on Friday night and a 29-0 shutout in 2015 as CCHS has won 10 of the last 11 matchups against the Jaguars.
Ryals will return to a region that has undergone considerable change since he left CCHS, as Buford High School, Johnson (Gainesville) High School and Walnut Grove High School will join Cedar Shoals, Clarke Central, Flowery Branch and Loganville in Region 8-AAAAA starting fall 2016.
