On Friday, Chestatee High boys basketball coach Tanner Plemmons announced he was going to be stepping away from his position with the school to take a job in another school district. 

The announcement was made public in an email from Hall County athletics director Stan Lewis. 

Plemmons led the program for two seasons, going 16-10 in 2022-23, and 9-6 in a very challenging Region 8-4A. 

His first season, the War Eagles were 10-19 overall with a 1-9 mark in league play. 

In total, Plemmons was at Chestatee four years, the first two as assistant coach for Josh Travis, who now coaches at Cherokee Bluff. 

“I want to thank the administration and Chestatee community for the opportunity to work with their kids these past four seasons,” Plemmons said. “We had a lot of success and that’s pure buy-in from the players in what we were doing.”

The next War Eagles coach will have a lot to work with as junior Colton Wilbanks, who averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds per game this season and topped 1,000 career points, is expected to return next season. 

“The sky’s the limit for that kid,” Plemmons said. “He’s as humble as a player that you’ll ever meet.”

Since the end of the 2023 season, there have been seven basketball coaching departures or changes in Hall County.

Among them, West Hall’s Bobby Pless stepped down as boys coach, and Jay Burney stepped down from the same role at Flowery Branch. 

Also, Lakeview Academy let Tyler Sanders go as boys coach and hired his longtime mentor Benjie Wood from Buford. 

On the girls side, East Hall girls coach Justin Wheeler stepped down to focus on working with the boys’ program with Joe Dix. 

At Gainesville, former state-championship winning coach Charlemangne Gibbons was hired as its new boys coach from Newton.