MONTICELLO, Ga. — Piedmont Academy is turning to Aubry Payne as its next varsity football coach.
The announcement was made earlier this week. Payne served as an assistant football coach for the Cougars this past fall. He will replace Clint Satterfield who led the program for the past four seasons.
|"This is very exciting," Payne said. "We are currently looking to put our coaching staff together and start working for the upcoming season."
The new head coach said he would like to run the pistol formation on offense and be a team that manhandles the opponent up front.
Defensively, his philosophy will be to get 11 hats to the football.
"Our goal is to be the toughest team on the field," Payne said.
Payne grew up in McDonough and attended Locust Grove Middle School and High School. He played football at Western Carolina from 2016-2017 before transferring to Georgia State University where he walked on the football team and quickly earned a scholarship in 15 days.
During his time at GSU, Payne, 27, earned two All-Sunbelt selections and helped the Panthers to two bowl wins. After graduating in 2021 with a degree in sociology, he became an offensive assistant at East Tennessee State University.
He is married to Malory-Anne Payne, an attorney who graduated from Mercer University Law School. The couple recently welcomed their first child, Emilia Anna Payne.
Payne played for Satterfield at Locust Grove High School.
"Coach Satterfield is looking at another opportunity that came up," Piedmont Academy athletic director Danny Camp said. "We appreciate the four years he gave us here. His wife teaches here and his kids go here and will continue to do so. We are super excited about Coach Payne and the direction he is going to take us. He is a high energy coach and it became very clear early in the interview process he was eager for the job and the right fit. He was already familiar with the kids and it was obvious they respected him this past season. He is an all-around asset for our football program and school."
Camp said a search committee conducted the interview process which included approximately 10 candidates. That list was then narrowed down with Payne being chosen as the new head coach.
Piedmont finished 7-3 in 2024 but was left out of the state playoffs by the GIAA system which uses MaxPreps to determine playoff seedings.
Beyond the offensive and defensive plays, Payne said he wants to use the sport of football to teach his players how to be men and to take the lessons learned on the field to their future lives.
"Everyone ties up the cleats for the last time at some point," Payne said. "Football is a great sport but it does end. want our players to use the lessons they've learned to be great men and leaders.
