RABBITTOWN, Ga. — After 32 years of standing on the sidelines, Ken Stoudenmire is hanging up his football and wrestling whistles -- for now.
The longtime coach, who began his career in 1991 at Oglethorpe County as both an assistant football coach and head wrestling coach, will be stepping down as East Hall’s head wrestling coach and offensive line coach for the football team at the end of the current school year, May 24.
“It’s just time to maybe do some things with my family and for myself that we’ve been wanting to do,” Stoudenmire said Tuesday. “It’s been a good career, and I’m proud of the things we’ve been able to accomplish in the places I’ve been. It’s always been church first, family second, and coaching third for me, so this is just something we’ve been talking about.”
Stoudenmire came to East Hall for the first time in 2009 as the head wrestling coach and served as both offensive and defensive coordinators for the football program at various times in his nine years before leaving for Lakeside-Evans outside of Augusta in 2018. He returned to the Vikings in 2021 to take back the head wrestling job and serve as the offensive line coach.
But before his first stint in Valhalla, Stoudenmire had stops at Hawkinsville (1995-96), Telfair County (1996-97), and Pelham (1997-2000). He moved to Social Circle (2000-07), and then Atkinson County (2007-09) where he was both the head football coach and Athletic Director at both schools.
His Social Circle football teams made the playoffs all six seasons and captured the program’s first and only region title in that span. The Redskins had never made the state playoffs before that and have made the playoffs just four times since with no region titles.
But as with most coaching “retirements” these days, Stoudenmire said you never know.
“I enjoy coaching, and I’ll probably never stop coaching, so I won’t say never,” he said. Again, it's just going to take some time, and then we’ll see if something comes up down the road that I’m interested in.”
