The winds of change have blown through the Griffin and Spalding high school athletic departments this summer.

Both schools have recently named new athletic directors to head their respective sports programs — Kennedy Holt at Griffin and Dale Wiggins at Spalding — and both have had been at the schools for quite some time.

Holt has been at Griffin High since 2007 as an assistant football coach, assistant girls basketball coach and track and field coach. Prior to coming to Griffin, he was the head football coach at Morrow High in 2005-06, where he compiled a 4-16 record in his two seasons.

Wiggins has coached at Spalding High since 2006 as the football team’s offensive and defensive coordinator through the years. Prior to coming to Spalding, Wiggins was the head football coach at Woodward Academy from 1998-2004, compiling a 44-34 record.

Holt replaces long-time Griffin AD and head baseball coach Jamie Cassady, who accepted a position as principal at A.Z. Kelsey Academy and Achievement Center. Cassady was AD from 2000-2012.

Wiggins steps in for Jeff Hyland, who retired after five years as the Spalding AD.

Both coaches will still keep their assistant coaching positions on their respective football teams. Holt said he plans to make sure the rest of the coaches are okay.

“The immediate goal for me is to assist the coaches and be there for them. I want to make their jobs easier,” he said. “In the long term, my goal will be to focus on all the athletes’ academics here at Griffin.”

Wiggins, who’s been coaching and teaching for 35 years, joked that he will be the oldest first-year athletic director in the state of Georgia.

“I’m excited to have an opportunity to do this, especially since I’ve been in this business for so long. Principal Derrell Jeffcoat and the Spalding coaches have been supportive of the ideas I’ve had and that’s a plus,” Wiggins said. “I plan to be a coaches AD — my goal is to help them with their programs and work with them to ease the financial pressures. The main thing is to make sure we have a complete program at all levels here at Spalding High.”