Jasper, Ga — On Thursday, January 4th, the Pickens County Board of Education approved the hire of Craig Bennett to become the new head football coach of the Pickens Dragons. Bennett, comes to Pickens after serving as the head coach of the Cambridge Bears from 2012 to 2023 accumulating a record of 65-62. He would lead the Bears to a 6-AAAAA region championship in 2022. During his time at Cambridge the Bears made the playoffs 5 times, and made 3 trips to the second round.

Bennett, has a total of 19 years of coaching in the high school ranks including stops at Darlington, Milton, Pope and the previously mentioned Cambridge. Bennett, will take over a Dragons team that has a young core group of kids coming back led by Hayden Jones and McCord Purdy just to name a few. While the Dragons have made several playoff appearances in the last couple of years, they will look to post their first winning record since the 2019-20 season.

The Dragons, will also be in a new region this upcoming season. Pickens, will be in the new version of 6-AAA along with familiar faces like Dawson, Lumpkin, and White County. New additions to the region will include Chestatee, Greater Atlanta Christian, Johnson-Gainesville, and North Hall.

Below is the press release sent out by Pickens High School: