Goodpasture Christian School and Pope John Paul II High are separated by just a few miles, but the two schools were filling football head coaching vacancies Monday.

Jerry Joslin, who had been the head coach at JPII since May 2012, announced he was leaving the Knights to take the similar position at Goodpasture.

“There are opportunities (at Goodpasture),” Joslin said. “I think the program itself is in a great region. There’s a ton of tradition. Their volleyball coach has won three state championships, the softball and baseball coaches have won, and basketball’s always strong in both boys and girls. It’s a program that has had a way of being in the playoffs in years past and it has a lot of tradition. Good coaches have been there, so I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Joslin made his decision on Monday, after contemplating it for a few days.

“I had a little time (to think about it),” Joslin said. “It’s been in the works for a few days. They had some very quality candidates to interview and I feel very lucky to be chosen.”

Turning the Goodpasture program back into a positive direction is Joslin’s first priority.

“First thing is to make sure we can take the bull by the horns and make sure we can be competitive,” Joslin said. “We want to get on the field and do things right and be sound. That’s my goal.

“First things first, you have to evaluate where you are and see who’s there and not there,” Joslin said. “We’ll look and see who’s coming up through the ranks with the middle school program. We have a natural feeder program, so that’s a good thing.”

Goodpasture also has a feeder program, something Pope John Paul II does not.

“It’s a big difference,” Joslin said. “You’re heavily recruiting at JPII, trying to get the kids from the Parochial schools – usually St. Joseph’s is one and Holy Rosary is another, and of course you’ve got to work Sumner County and try to get those kids. I think I did a good job of reaching out to those kids.”

Goodpasture fired head coach Leslie Mote, in October, following an 0-7 start to the 2014 season.

Pope John Paul II didn’t waste time filling Joslin’s void, hiring offensive coordinator Justin Geisinger to be head coach. He is excited about the group of players he has returning.

“It’s a great group of guys,” Geisinger said. “We lost nine seniors who were great kids in the program. They put their time in and did great things for us. But we had a young team this past year and our core group on both sides of the ball is going to help us in the next year or two. I’m ecstatic about the group we have coming back.”

Geisinger will be JPII’s fourth head coach in the program’s history (which started in 2002).

“I’ve been fortunate to coach under two – really three – different head coaches in the time I’ve been here,” Geisinger said. “I never coached under Jeff Brothers, but he’s really the one who brought me in here five years ago.”

Geisinger, who played high school ball in Pennsylvania, came to Pope John Paul II four seasons ago, heading up the strength and conditioning program.

“Playing in this league, it’s one of the toughest leagues in the state,” Geisinger, a former player at Vanderbilt , said. “There’s never an off-week. It’s a grind, week-in and week-out. We recognize that as coaches and we understand what we’re up against. It’s really time for us to move forward and start getting us to the point where we can start being competitive on a weekly basis with these teams. We’re still a relatively newer school in the league, and we’re still trying to find a true identity to JPII football.”

Andy McWilliams headed the Goodpasture program as an interim head coach for the team’s final three games. Mote was 6-6 his first season at Goodpasture in 2013 before the 0-7 start this past season.

Joslin, a longitme assistant and head coach, has had previous stops at Gallatin (mid-to-late 1990s) and Cookeville (where he compiled a 97-63 record in 14 seasons) before taking over at Pope John Paul II. He was 10-21 in three seasons (1-18 in Division II-AA East/Middle). This past season the Knights were 3-8, falling to McCallie in the first round of the state playoffs.