The top national high school football coaching changes that could impact the 2026 season

Q: Which states are experiencing the biggest high school football coaching changes for 2026?

Georgia and Texas are experiencing the most significant coaching changes among high school football programs for the 2026 season.

Q: How have coaching changes historically affected high school football national championships?

Historically, at least one team from the Big Four states—Georgia, Texas, California, and Florida—has won a share of the national title in almost every season over the past 30 years.

Q: What are the Big Four states in high school football?

The Big Four states in high school football are Georgia, Texas, California, and Florida, known for producing many national championship-winning teams.

The top national high school football coaching changes that could impact the 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

It's been a busy coaching change season around the country in high school football, with several high-profile programs going in a different direction at the top since the end of the 2025 season.

The biggest changes have taken place in Georgia and Texas, where two perennial Top 25 programs will move forward under new leadership. Those two states are among high school's "Big Four," which also includes California and Florida, where most of the national-championship winning teams have come in the past 30 years.

In fact, in all but three of the past 30 seasons, at least one team from one of those Big Four states has won at least a share of the national title, which historically includes many of the selectors that comprise The Sporting News High School Football Composite Rankings. Organizations like USA Today, MaxPreps, Massey Ratings, SI, HighSchoolFootballAmerica.com and BlueStar Media, among others.

It makes sense then to focus on those high-profile changes that could affect teams in the Top 25 or on the "bubble." And the biggest change of all this offseason had a ripple effect that impacted two national powerhouses in Georgia.

Below are the five coaching changes nationally that could have the most impact on the national rankings in 2026.

Peach State powers move into 2026 under new head coaches

In Georgia, the hiring of a new coach at one major program led to an opening at arguably the state's premier program over the past 15 years. And both of those changes could impact the national rankings in the 2026 season.

Grayson [Loganville, GA] Rams

Grayson has won four state championships in Georgia's top classification since 2011, and the Rams finished last season ranked No. 8 in the country after losing to the Carrollton Trojans in Georgia's GHSA Class 6A quarterfinals. They checked in yesterday at No. 15 in The Sporting News High School Football Spring Top 25, and the Rams will almost certainly have a spot in our official preseason rankings coming in July.

The most recent of those four state titles came in 2024 under Santavious Bryant, and he's the central figure in the storyline that impacts two of the Peach State's top programs. Bryant accepted the head coach position at Grayson in 2023, leading the Rams to an 11-3 finish that fall before taking them on a 14-1 run to that 2024 state championship.

Then last fall, the Rams lost their 4-star quarterback, Travis Burgess, early in the season, and Bryant plugged in Deuce Smith and still led the Rams on a 12-1 run that ended in that loss to Carrollton.

With a 37-5 record and a state championship under his belt in three seasons, you would have thought the 30-year-old Bryant to be pretty content and ride it out in Loganville. But then a former employer came calling in January.

Bryant had previously served as the defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator in 2022 for the Gainesville [GA] Red Elephants under Josh Niblett. It was that position that served as a springboard to the Grayson job for Bryant as the Red Herd finished 14-1, losing to the Langston Hughes [Fairburn, GA] Panthers, 35-28, in the GHSA Class 6A state championship game.

Bryant ultimately chose to return to Gainesville, where he spoke of having unfinished business in a report from the city's local WDUN radio station dating back to that title-game loss. Bryant's decision to leave and fill Niblett's shoes in Gainesville then opened up the position at Grayson, which, in turn, chose to promote defensive coordinator Greg Carswell from within.

Carswell will have plenty of talent to work with in his first season as a head coach, with highly-ranked prospects like 4-star IOL Jordan Agbanoma, S Jalen Welch, IOL KD Jones, DL Waylon Wooten, TE Joey Hunter, LB Eli Harris, S London Goggans, CB Jett Watson and CB Rilee Drew.

Gainesville [GA] Red Elephants

Of course, Bryant won't exactly be hurting for bodies in Gainesville, where the Red Elephants are coming off a 12-3 season and a trip to the GHSA Class 5A state championship game.

They lost the title game in a one-sided 62-21 romp to the Thomas County Central [Thomasville, GA] Yellow Jackets, but Bryant will have plenty of talent on hand from that squad in the form of ranked prospects like RB Nigel Newkirk, QB Karim Hughley, OT Tyler Ford, S Jeremiah Proctor, IOL Bryson Hurt, LB Darryn Williams and IOL Carter Mathis.

Gainesville spent time on the "bubble" of the national Top 25 last season, and if they get off to a fast start under Bryant, they definitely could crack the national rankings in 2026.

Two Texas powerhouses move forward under new leaders

There will be a change in a program in the Lone Star State that spent the entire 2025 season in The Sporting News High School Football Top 25. Another Texas program that spent time in the composite rankings will also have a new leader.

Southlake [TX] Carroll Dragons

Southlake Carroll started 14-0 last season before crashing and burning in a 57-44 loss in the Texas UIL Class 6A Division II semifinals.

Then they suffered another big loss after the season when head coach and former Dragon quarterback Riley Dodge left to take a position in the collegiate ranks as the tight ends coach and pass game coordinator at SMU.

Dodge went 107-10 in his eight seasons as Carroll's boss.

Just like Georgia's Grayson, the Dragons opted for continuity, choosing to promote associate head coach and defensive coordinator Lee Munn to the top position. Munn's cupboard is well-stocked, too, with WR Brody Knowles, OT Luke Wilson, IOL Tristan Dare, and WR Blake Gunter among the Class of 2027 prospects that are ranked.

Atascocita [Humble, TX] Eagles

Atascocita never cracked SN's Top 25 last year, but they were nationally ranked early in the season by other services that earned them a spot for a short time in SN's composite rankings.

And while their 6-5 finish wasn't a great season by the Eagles' recent standards – double-digit wins for four straight seasons from 2021-2024 – this is still considered one of the top programs in the Greater Houston area.

Following the season, head coach Craig Stump decided to call it a career, stepping down from the position he had held since 2012 as Atascocita's head man. Now the Eagles turn to Kyle Coats, who most recently led the College Park [The Woodlands, TX] Cavaliers to an 11-2 finish in the Texas UIL Class 6A ranks.

Coats will have a nice nucleus of talent to build around, including CB Joshua Banks, DL Jason Johnson, CB Trenton Blaylock, WR Brian Manuel Jr. and S Tavon Bolden.

California Trinity League program turns to former NFL star to rebuild

Any time there's a change at head coach in California's Trinity League ranks, it's worth paying attention to. Witness the immediate success the Santa Margarita [Rancho Santa Margarita, CA] Eagles experienced last year in the first season under Carson Palmer, a program alum who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and earn All-Pro accolades as an NFL quarterback before embarking on a coaching career.

Now, another Trinity League program will follow that model by turning to a former NFL star to lead the way.

JSerra Catholic [San Juan Capistrano, CA] Lions

You're never going to confuse the JSerra Catholic program with Mater Dei, St. John Bosco or even the ascendant program at Santa Margarita or Orange Lutheran.

But they're still Trinity League, and the cachet of that affiliation counts for something. At the very least, the Lions are guaranteed to face a lineup of nationally-ranked teams every year during the league portion of their schedule, meaning they have multiple, direct opportunities to impact the national top 25 every year.

After a 3-7 season where they went 0-5 in conference play, the Lions have made a change at the top, replacing Victor Santa Cruz with Hardy Nickerson, who played 16 years in the NFL before moving into coaching. Most recently, Nickerson Jr. led the Bishop O'Dowd [Oakland, CA] Dragons to California's CIF Class 5-AA state title in a 37-0 win in December over the Christian [El Cajon, CA] Patriots.

The Trinity League is a tough mountain to climb, but Nickerson will begin the trek with some highly-ranked prospects in his party, like EDGE Godschoice Eboigbodin and WR Clark Cokley, along with the state's top-ranked junior prospect in OT Lincoln Fa'alafi.