Coming off his worst season at Mays, football coach Dominic Calloway has been relieved of his head coaching duties. A new coach is expected to be in place in the next few weeks.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to coach the team for so long. I’m just thankful for that,” Calloway said. Calloway declined any additional comments about the change.

As Mays coach, Calloway had a 39-18 record with winning seasons every year before this year's 5-5 record. This season was only the second in which one of Calloway's teams missed the playoffs. The other was 2008, his first full year as head coach.

Calloway won 4 games as interim coach in 2007 after former coach Jesse Solomon was forced out by the Atlanta Public Schools athletics department amid a certification controversy from a previous job in Florida. Calloway, previously the team's defensive coordinator, led the Raiders to wins over Marist and a first round playoff win over Cedar Shoals before the Raiders lost in the second round to East Paulding.

However, during Calloway's tenure as permanent coach, none of his teams won a playoff game, which may have been a factor in his release. While the Raiders record looks poor at 5-5, the average margin of loss was a mere 4.4 points. Many of the losses resulted after fourth quarter meltdowns as the Raiders relaxed after gaining small leads.

Principal Dr. Tyronne Smith declined comment on the coaching change, except to say,  “I can only say that we will officially have a head coach week after next. Other than that, no comment until the week of his coming.”

Speculation around the school and on Internet blogs, including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, has pegged Corey Jarvis, former coach of region rival MLK and current coach at Duluth as a likely replacement. Jarvis, 49-11 in five seasons at MLK, led the Lions to at least 8 wins each year, including a 12-1 season in which MLK lost by 1 point in the state quarterfinals. At Duluth, his record is 12-18 in three seasons. Despite that, he was one of only two Georgia coaches chosen as assistant coaches in the 2011 U.S. Army All American Game.

Calloway has the second longest tenure in school history. Only Kirby McDaniel, who lead the football team from 1987-1994, coached longer. With two 8-win seasons and two 7-win seasons, only Solomon, a former NFL player with the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons and Darrell Caldwell, a Mays graduate, won more games in a single season. Caldwell won 11 in 2003 and Solomon won 10 in 2006.

Calloway made a lasting impression on some of his players.

Senior co-captain and center Kevin Reid praised Calloway for his coaching abilities.

 “Coach Calloway taught me a lot about the game of football, more than just playing though,'' said Reid. ``He taught me to how to act in certain situations during football games. I don’t think he deserved to be fired.”

 Senior Jamal Holmes expressed similar sentiments.

 “I don’t think the team will be the same, even though I’m graduating,'' said Holmes. ``It feels different knowing that he’s not going to be head coach. Most people didn’t like his decisions but understood why he did what he did. It wasn’t his fault that the team had the season it did. It was the team itself.”

As for Calloway's impact, Reid said, “I think his legacy will be that he was a coach that liked to win but had many tough losses but never feared playing any game.”

Next season will look to be interesting as the Raiders will lose 26 seniors to graduation and have to adjust to a new head coach.