Flowery Branch High football coach Chris Griffin resigned his position on Friday, according to a release from the Hall County School System.

Griffin became head coach in December 2011 when former coach Lee Shaw moved on to Rabun County High.

Under Griffin, the Falcons won 29 of their 51 games, but failed to make the playoffs in the past three seasons. After five seasons as head coach, Griffin said “it’s just time.”

“I’ve spent 15 years at Flowery Branch High School and I’ve loved every minute of it,” he said. “With every man and his family, there comes a time to look and see what’s best and what a man, a husband and a dad needs to do for his family and I felt like this is the time for a change.”

For the time being, Griffin will remain in his teaching position with Flowery Branch, but will be seeking out coaching opportunities with other programs.

“I’ll definitely be looking. I want to stay in coaching, that’s just what I do,” Griffin said. “I don’t know where. I have no leads, no set particular place I want to try to get to. Honestly, I couldn’t really do much until it became official. Now that it’s out, I have a lot of friends, a lot of connections in the business and we’ll try to start making phone calls really soon.”

Griffin said he would like to stay local and not have to move his family. And he’s not necessarily looking for a head coaching position, just a place where he can impact kids.

Griffin said he took the head coaching position with the Falcons to “be a difference maker and impact kids” and that’s something he feels he did well.

“I’ve established some great relationships with a ton of kids,” Griffin said. “I think they would echo that I’ve modeled what a man, what a husband, what a dad should be. During my time, sure, I would’ve loved to have won more games. But I feel like I impacted kids and did, what I would consider, the more important things and I feel like I did those well.”

The now former head coach sat his team down Friday morning to inform them of his resignation. He said it was hard to do and emotional, but the right thing to do in being honest with his players.

Griffin said his players responded with appreciation of helping them through tough times in their lives and, for some, even being a father figure at times.

The highpoint of his tenure came in the final game of the regular season in 2012, his first at the helm, when Griffin directed Flowery Branch to a win over Gainesville to secure a Region 8-AAAAA title. The 2016 squad finished with a 3-7 record, defeating Chestatee, Johnson and Cedar Shoals.

Griffin came to the school in 2002 as it opened its doors for the first time. He served as defensive coordinator for nine seasons prior to becoming head coach.