Walton hires former Byrnes defensive coordinator Mo Dixon

Mo Dixon will become the new head coach at Cobb County football-power Walton, Score Atlanta learned from a source Tuesday morning.

Dixon, who was the defensive coordinator at Brynes High School in South Carolina last season, is considered one of the top defensive minds in the state. He made a name for himself when he was defensive coordinator at North Gwinnett for seven seasons. His hiring is pending approval from the Cobb County School System and he will be formally introduced at the school on Wednesday.

The other finalist for the job was East Paulding head coach Chuck Goddard, who was Walton’s defensive coordinator during the 2011 season, when the Raiders finished 14-1 and made the school’s first state championship game. Goddard has gone 11-1 and 8-4 in two seasons at East Paulding.

Walton’s search committee worked for more than two weeks finding a new head coach, receiving hundreds of applications and interviewing nine coaches. The four brought back for second interviews were three assistants and Goddard. The assistants were Collins Hill offensive coordinator Sean Calhoun and Brookwood offensive coordinator Phillip Jones.

Dixon has been a head coach twice before, at North Broward Prep in Boca Raton (Fla.) and Hazard High School in Kentucky. He replaces Rocky Hidalgo, who left last month to take the head job at Glynn Academy in Brunswick.

According to a story last year in the Gwinnett Daily Post, Dixon spent the last seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at North Gwinnett, building one of the state’s top defenses. The Bulldogs won three straight region championship and were the Class AAAAA state runner-up in 2007. North recorded 14 shutouts during that span and had one of the state’s top scoring defenses. They also also knocked off several nationally ranked teams, including Grayson, Prattville (Ala.), Crenshaw (Calif.) and East St. Louis (Ill.).