Baldwin High School officially announced Kevin Patterson last week as its new head football coach. The hiring comes after the Baldwin County Board of Education approved Patterson as the new head coach in a Jan. 9 meeting.
Patterson replaces Jessie Hicks, who coached at Baldwin in two different stints, going 110-60 over 15 seasons.
“Coach Patterson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Baldwin,” Baldwin High School principal Jason Flanders said in a statement released on Wednesday. “We are excited to welcome Coach Patterson to Braves Nation.”
Patterson played high school football at Camden County. As a senior, he helped the Wildcats go 15-0 and win a state championship. Patterson played on both sides of the ball and was part of a defense that allowed just 47 points all season and posted nine shutouts. Offensively, Patterson scored 13 touchdowns and was voted to the All-State first team by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and GACA.
Patterson played college football at Wake Forest from 2004-08 and helped the Demon Deacons win the 2006 ACC Championship. Patterson also helped the program make three straight bowl games before finishing his career at Wake Forest with 180-plus tackles, eight interceptions, and three touchdowns.
In 2010, Patterson played for the Amarillo Venom of the Indoor Football League (IFL). He was selected to the All-IFL team and led the Venom in interceptions and tackles. Patterson went back to his alma mater Wake Forest University in 2012, where he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach. He served as a defensive graduate assistant from 2012-2014.
Patterson joined the Tucker High School football staff in 2015 as a defensive secondary coach. In 2016, he was named defensive coordinator at Tucker and the Tigers finished the season 13-2 and state runner-up.
The next year, Patterson joined the TL Hanna (Anderson, SC) football staff under legendary coach Jeff Herron, who was his high school coach. The program immediately improved, and in 2017 the school had its first undefeated regular season.
Patterson was named defensive coordinator in 2018 and served in this role at TL Hanna through 2020. Under his leadership, the Yellow Jackets finished runner-up in South Carolina's Class 5A. They won Upper State championships in 2018 and 2020 as well. Patterson also served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach while at TL Hanna.
In 2021, Patterson returned to the state of Georgia as defensive coordinator at McEachern High School for two seasons. The McEachern Indians were the 2021 Region 2-7A champions and in 2022 they had the top defense in the region, averaging just 11 points per game against during region play. Patterson also was the strength and conditioning coach at McEachern.
This past season, Patterson was with Jones County High School as assistant head football coach, head strength coach, and wide receivers coach. The Greyhounds had a high-powered offense that amassed 4,971 total yards and had three different receivers go over 600 yards receiving. The Greyhounds finished second in the region and were knocked out in the second round of the playoffs.
Patterson is married to Sharonna Patterson and they have three children: Kamden, Koley, and Kyndall.