Gaffney Promotes Longtime Staff Member Donnie Littlejohn to Head Football Coach

Gaffney, needing a new head football coach, kept it in the family.
Donnie Littlejohn, the longtime offensive coordinator and former Gaffney player, was named head coach on Tuesday by the Cherokee County (South Carolina) School District Board of Trustees.
Littlejohn replaces Dan Jones, Gaffney’s all-time winningest coach, who retired at the end of the 2024 season.
The school will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Littlejohn was an offensive lineman at Gaffney, where he graduated in 1997. He played college football at Furman, starting 44 of 46 games in four years. The Paladins were 32-14 and won a pair of Southern Conference championships during Littlejohn’s playing time.
In 2001, Littlejohn won the Southern Conference’s Jacobs Blocking Award.
All roads led back to Gaffney for Littlejohn, who was an assistant coach for eight years before becoming offensive coordinator in 2010. He has been a part of four state championships at Gaffney – three under head coach Phil Strickland and one under Jones.
The Indians went 10-2 in the 2024 season, reaching the third round of the Class AAAAA Division 2 state playoffs, where they fell 58-40 to eventual state champion Northwestern.
Gaffney should be positioned for more success in 2025.
Littlejohn gets one more season with quarterback Jayvon Gilmore. The Arkansas commit threw for 2,510 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior.
Among the returnees on defense is Virginia Tech commit Zion Dawkins, who had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries as a freshman.
There were three finalists for the position, according to the Gaffney Ledger. The Ledger said the others were White Knoll head coach Nick Pelham and Independence (N.C.) coach Darryl McFadden.