Cook steps down at Osborne

After three years in the position, Derek Cook stepped down as Osborne’s football coach.

The longtime Cobb County coach went 3-27 during his tenure with the program, including a 1-9 record this season. While the number of wins may not have been to his liking, Cook said appreciated his time at Osborne and the chance to build the relationships with his players.

“I’m thankful to be the head coach at Osborne,” Cook said. “I thank (principal) Dr. (Troy) Jones for the opportunity, and I can’t say enough about the young men and the different challenges they overcame. I felt like we had a great coaching staff, and it was just unfortunate we didn’t produce more victories.”

The Osborne job was Cook’s third head-coaching position within the county. He started with two years at South Cobb, where he went 9-12 from 2006-07, then made his mark in building Kell into a perennial postseason contender.

In Cook’s season with the Longhorns, he went 89-23. During that stretch, Kell made the postseason all nine seasons, won four region championships and made the quarterfinals four times, with two trips to the state semifinals.

Cook, whose career record is 101-62, said he hopes to get another chance to be a head coach in the future.

While the time at Osborne may have been tough, there was still a highlight victory for Cook. During the 2025 season, the Cardinals had a come-from-behind victory over South Cobb to earn Cook the 100th victory of his career.

The final drive was 14 straight running plays and took nearly 6 minutes off the clock as Osborne won 21-20.

“That’s one you’d remember if it was (win) No. 44 or 78,” Cook told the MDJ at the time. “For it to also be (my) 100th, I’ll never forget this one.”

Despite dealing with fluctuating roster numbers throughout his three seasons, Cook said he still had a lot of fun teaching his young players the game of football and watching them grow not only as an individual both on and off the field, but as a team.

“I love the kids,” Cook said. “They are a lot of fun to be around. I’m disappointed, they are disappointed, but the text messages I’ve received over the last 72 hours tells me how much of an impact we’ve had in a short time with the players.”