The area high school football coaching carousel plodded along over the past three months, with positions at James Monroe, Stafford and King George opening late last year and being filled all within the last month. The position at brand-new Hartwood High School was also filled recently, and it appeared as if the next few months before teams hit the practice field in July would be ho-hum.
Then came the bombshell.
On Feb. 27, Colonial Forge head coach John Brown announced that he would be stepping down after eight seasons at the helm.
Brown guided the Eagles to a 66-27 record, winning two Commonwealth District championships and a pair of Region 6B titles. Forge qualified for the playoffs in all but one of his seasons in charge.
Brown cited a desire to transition into a role in administration as the primary factor in his decision to move on.
“I’ve had a master’s degree in school administration and supervision for some time now, and it’s time for me to put it to use,” he said. “I decided two years ago that I would start looking into finding an admin job, maybe as an athletic director. So now, I’m devoting all my attention to that.”
Brown took over as the Eagles’ head coach in 2018 after his father, Bill Brown, stepped down following 11 wildly successful years at the helm. The elder Brown, a Virginia High School League hall of famer who won 281 career games and two state championships, went 108-36 with three regional titles before handing the reins to his son. He stayed on as Forge’s defensive coordinator for the past eight years.
John began his coaching career as an assistant on his father’s staff at Hylton in the 1990s. During that time, the Bulldogs won back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999. Later, he would serve as Freedom-Woodbridge’s first head coach when that school opened in 2005. When Bill accepted the job at Forge in 2007, John followed him there.
“The football coaching community is taking a big hit with [John’s] retirement,” Riverbend head coach Ed Webb said. “I’ve only known him for a couple of years, but he is one of the best and classiest coaches that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in my 23 years in the profession. You could tell that his players loved playing for him, and they always played with class, poise and passion.”
“Coach Brown’s teams were always talented, prepared and disciplined,” Massaponax head coach Shane Ludden said. “He’s leaving some big shoes to fill at Colonial Forge.”
Forge produced many college prospects during Brown’s time there. Just recently, a handful of Eagles signed letters of intent to play at the next level, including TaySean Jones (Old Dominion) and Jaylen Carter (Monmouth).
Another Forge product, Elijah Sarratt, was a key member of Indiana’s 2026 national championship squad and has declared for the NFL draft.
“I am so proud of how hard our players have worked each year to maintain a high standard,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of work involved year-round, and it’s a busy schedule and big-time commitment. I’m certainly proud of our accomplishments, and I’m proud to have been a part of the Colonial Forge community. It truly has been an honor to be the head coach there.”
In other recent coaching news, Stafford announced its new head coach on Feb. 19. It’s former Liberty-Bedford head man Brad Womack.
Womack spent just one season at Liberty, guiding the Minutemen to a 3-7 mark. But his short tenure is notable: a 50-16 victory over William Campbell in Liberty’s 2025 season opener snapped a 37-game losing streak for the program.
On Feb. 27, Hartwood announced that it had hired Fredericksburg Christian head coach D.J. Palmer as its first-ever head coach.
Palmer, a 2000 North Stafford graduate, has spent time as an assistant coach in the area at Stafford, Colonial Forge and Saint Michael. In his lone campaign as FCS head coach, the Eagles went 5-4.
King George announced last Monday that Taiwan Holmes has been selected as its new head coach.
Holmes was an assistant coach at Essex, his alma mater. He also brings valuable experience as a player at the collegiate level, having played at University of Massachusetts and Northwestern University as a defensive lineman.
