Hornets Head Football Coach Resigns, Accepts Job In Buford

By Mike Blum

John Ford, the man who coached Roswell High School’s football team to appearances in state championship games the past two seasons, is leaving the school to become the head coach at perennial state power Buford High School.

The Hornets went 14-1 each of the past two seasons, with their only losses coming in the championship games of the state’s highest classification. Roswell lost to Colquitt County in the 2015 title game and was defeated in overtime by Grayson in December in the final high school game played in the Georgia Dome.

Ford was the offensive coordinator at Roswell prior to taking over as head coach in 2013. The Hornets went 3-17 the two previous seasons, and were 4-6 in Ford’s first year as head coach. Roswell went 8-4 and reached the second round of the playoffs in 2014 before capturing region titles and reaching the state championship games the next two years.

The Hornets were 40-12 under Ford in his four seasons as head coach. Ford is the second Roswell coach to step down after enjoying back-to- back outstanding seasons. Tim McFarlin resigned as head coach after his 10th season with the Hornets in 2007. Roswell shared the state title in 2006 and lost in the quarterfinals in 2007 to eventual state champion Lowndes, giving the Vikings their toughest game of the post-season.

McFarlin returned to coaching in 2011 as head coach at Blessed Trinity. The Titans have gone 61-17-1 under McFarlin, with 13 of those wins coming in the playoffs. Buford has been Georgia’s most successful program over the past two decades, winning 10 state titles during that span and losing in the championship games on five other occasions. The Wolves have played in a state title game each of the past 10 seasons, winning seven.

The Wolves have had just four head coaches since 1973, only two since 1995. Dexter Wood went 118-17 with three state championships between 1995 and 2004 before stepping down as head coach, and Jess Simpson was 118-17 with seven championship teams between 2005 and 2016. Wood has remained at Buford as athletic director.

Simpson stepped down as head coach after the 2016 season to take a job on the coaching staff at Georgia State. Buford went 15-0 four times during Simpson’s tenure and won three other state titles, but lost in the championship game each of the last two years.

Buford won state titles at the Class A level in 2001, AA in 2002-03 and 2007-10, AAA in 2012-13 and AAAA in 2014. The Wolves lost in the 5-A championship this season to Rome.

Roswell defeated Buford 24-7 in 2016 in the season-opening Corky Kell Classic, with the game played at McEachern. The Hornets will graduate almost their entire starting lineup, with the majority of the team’s seniors expected to play in college, many at the Division I level.

While the Hornets are expected to be in a rebuilding stage next season, the Wolves will enter the 2017 season as one of the favorites to play for a 5-A title.

Ford is a Gwinnett County native who played his high school football at Brookwood and was part of a 1996 state championship team.

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