After five seasons and a playoff appearance, the Scott Walker era is over for the Milton High School football team.

Walker let the Eagle football team and interim Athletic Director Jamie Dixon know of his decision in a team meeting on January 5. For Walker, a Milton grad, it wasn't a decision he came to lightly, "I'm a Milton guy," Walker told the Beacon over the phone. "And I think we have a good chance to have a great team next year, but I truly felt that I didn't have the energy to continue as football coach."

Walker had a minor health setback during the 2010 season and although it didn't cause him to miss any games, it did make him think about cutting back his duties at the school, which is why he resigned his athletic director's job in December, "I resigned the AD job so I could give myself some time to work on my health." 

Walker took a leave of absence from the school in December, but after returning from Fulton County's holiday break Monday, he finally decided that between his health and his family, he couldn't give the football program the time they deserved. "Over my career, I've tried to tell myself that I don't need to work 24 hour days, but it's tough to stop doing," Walker said. 

The now former Eagle coach, who has three children, also emphasized the importance of his family when it came to making the tough decision, "When you decide to get married and you decide to have kids, you no longer have the right to do what you want to do," Walker says. "You have to do whats best and this is best for my family." 

Although Walker only accumulated a 24-26 regular season record (0-1 postseason) during his Eagle coaching career, most would consider his tenure a success. Walker took over a program that won only 17 games in five years. He then won that many games in only three seasons. In 2008, Walker led the Eagles to their first playoff appearance in nine years. The team finished the '08 season with an 8-2 record, a mark that gave Milton back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1994. 

Walker started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the football team at West Georgia. A year later, he moved onto Georgia Tech where he was a G.A. under then head coach Chan Gailey. After his stint at Georgia Tech, Walker was hired as the defensive coordinator at the school where his coaching career started: West Georgia. 

The North Fulton native always had plans to get back to the area, which is why he accepted a defensive coordinator position with Chattahoochee in 2003. In April 2006, Walker was named only the eighth football coach in Milton's 60-year team history. 

Walker says, if asked, he'll help in the school's search for a new coach, but for now, those duties will fall upon Dixon and first-year principal Cliff Jones. 

Offensive coordinator Mike Scott will fill in as interim head coach until Walker's replacement is named. 

Photo by Kent McCorkle