During the April meeting of the Dawson County Board of Education, the board voted to approve Chad Pittman as the new head boys' basketball coach at Dawson County High School.

Pittman has 15 years of experience as a head coach with six state tournament appearances, according to Dawson County High principal Richard Crumley.

He comes to Dawson County from Chestatee High School where he has coached the varsity boys program since 2014.

"I can't say enough positives about the Chestatee community," said Pittman, who praised the student-athletes, fellow coaches and parents for their contributions. "They've been more than great for me, better than I deserve."

Pittman will be replacing longtime Coach Thad Burgess, who announced earlier this year that he has accepted a head coach position at Oconee High School.

"Coach Burgess has done a great job with the program," said Pittman. "He's had much success with them, and the more I'm diving in, the more I realize that Dawson basketball is a big thing around there."

Pittman said he was bullish on Dawson County's future, given that the varsity team will be returning all of its players from last year.

Pittman will meet with parents at 6 p.m. Thursday night in the Dawson County High auditorium to talk about his vision for Tiger basketball as well as summer plans.

A University of Georgia graduate with a bachelor's degree in mathematics education, he began coaching basketball at Johnson High School for the 9th grade boys, junior varsity boys program and as an assistant for the varsity boys' team.

From there he moved to Jackson County High School as the varsity girls' basketball coach and Duluth High School as the varsity girls' basketball coach.

Pittman will also be teaching math at Dawson County.

Pittman said he was proud of the "family" atmosphere at Chestatee, adding that the move to Dawsonville gave him "mixed emotions."

"I've been really supported and back well here (at Chestatee)," said Pittman. "The kids throughout the season work hard, they're very coachable, the school and the staff support everybody. It's a tight-knit family. That's something special."

Times reporter David Thackham contributed to this report.