When George Coghill stepped down as James Monroe High School’s head football coach on Dec. 22, Yellow Jackets Athletic Director Kenton Griffin stressed the importance of finding a replacement who fit the program’s culture and embraced its history of excellence.
Nearly two months later, Griffin and JM have found their man.
The Fredericksburg City School Board approved the hiring of Cody Goode as the Jackets’ new head coach at a meeting held on Feb. 9.
It will be the first head coaching gig for the 31-year-old Goode. But he’s gained a wealth of experience and knowledge from a standout collegiate career as a player and a pair of impressive stints as an assistant coach at King George and Spotsylvania.
After graduating from Fredericksburg Christian School in 2013, Goode attended Division II West Virginia Wesleyan College as a defensive lineman. While there, he was voted a team captain twice and was named a Don Hansen All-American as a senior in 2017.
After graduating with a degree in applied physics in 2018, Goode returned to the area. He served as both a defensive and special teams coordinator under Vern Lunsford at King George, where he helped guide the Foxes to five consecutive Battlefield District championships and a pair of Region 4B titles from 2020-24.
When Lunsford left King George to become the head coach at Spotsylvania after the 2024 season, Goode followed him. In 2025, his defense yielded just 15.6 points per game during the regular season, buoying the Knights (7-4) to their first playoff berth since 2019.
More than a dozen athletes who played for Goode over the past six years earned college scholarships.
“Getting my first head coaching job is such a surreal feeling,” Goode said. “It’s a proud moment because it shows that your hard work and dedication have paid off. I’m ready to get to work and show that JM made the right decision.”
JM’s press release conveyed an air of excitement over the hire.
“As a former defensive and special teams coordinator at both King George & Spotsy, Coach Goode will bring a tough-minded and passionate style of football to James Monroe,” the statement read. “He is eager to continue the proud traditions that have been the standard at James Monroe, while also adding his touch as well.”
Goode will be just the third head coach the Jackets have had in 41 years. Rich Serbay led the program from 1985-2019, winning 266 games and four state championships. Coghill, a JM alum and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Denver Broncos, took over in 2020 after Serbay departed, and went 20-41 in six seasons.
Goode said fans and opponents alike can expect a return to JM’s trademark “Tough City Boys” style of play.
“We will be a disciplined and tough team that will compete for all four quarters and make it tough for anyone we play,” he said. “We will make the community proud with how we play and bring back the TCB culture.”
Lunsford gave Goode a glowing endorsement.
“Coach Goode did a tremendous job coordinating our defenses,” he said. “He’s a very intelligent coach that will have his team prepared and ready to play each and every week.”
Three other area schools — King George, Stafford and Hartwood (the new Stafford County high school) — have yet to announce new head coaches.
Josh Wallace and Gerard Johnson both stepped down after just one season at King George and Stafford, respectively. Wallace’s Foxes were winless, while Johnson’s Indians finished 3-7 before he departed to L.C. Bird High in Chesterfield County.
The brand-new Hartwood High School is set to open its doors for the first time this August. Last week, Stafford County Public Schools announced that Jermaine Johnson, who is North Stafford’s dean of students, will be Hartwood’s AD.
