Carver football coach Corey Joyner resigns, is expected to finish school year as AD
Two months after leading Carver to the Georgia High School Association 2021 Class 4A state championship game, Corey Joyner has resigned his position as Tigers head football coach.
Muscogee County School District athletics director Jeff Battles confirmed the news Monday to the Ledger-Enquirer.
The L-E didn’t reach Joyner or Carver principal Chris Lindsey for comment before publication.
Battles said he doesn’t know why Joyner resigned from the head football coaching position. Joyner, however, still is Carver’s athletics director, still is teaching physical education at the school and is expected to finish the school year in those positions, Battles said.
“Wherever he might be going, we wish him the best of luck,” Battles said. “We thank him for everything he’s done at Carver High School.”
Although he spoke with Joyner on Monday, Battles said he didn’t learn the reason for the resignation.
“You could tell the decision weighed on him,” Battles said, “but he didn’t really give me any more insight into why. … The assumption I have is he’s going to accept something somewhere.”
Asked whether anyone asked Joyner to resign, Battles said, “Not to my knowledge.”
Joyner compiled a 42-7 record in four seasons at Carver as the Tigers qualified for the state playoffs and advanced further each year:
- 9-2 in 2018; lost in the first round.
- 10-2 in 2019; lost in the second round.
- 10-1 in 2020; lost in the quarterfinals.
- 13-2 in 2021; lost in the final.
Joyner came to Carver in 2018 from Dougherty, where he went 10-48 in six seasons at his alma mater. In his last two seasons there, the Trojans made the program’s first consecutive state playoff appearances.
When he arrived at Carver, Joyner was faced with the challenge of boosting the Tigers back to state title contention.
Since Dell McGee, now Georgia’s running backs coach, departed Carver after the 2012 season with seven straight years of double-digit wins, including the 2007 Class 3A state championship, the Tigers had three head coaches in five seasons and didn’t advance beyond the second round of the state playoffs.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 3:33 PM.
