Etowah County board of education makes the hire of Ben Stewart as Southside football coach official
Southside high football and the Etowah County schools system board of education finalized the hire of Ben Stewart official during a meeting on Tuesday night.
"I'm just unbelievable grateful, this is my first head coaching job, so nerve wracking all the same but I've been told if you do it one year or 30 years its all nerve wracking. I can't wait to get going, I told Ms. (Julie) Tucker, even throughout the interviews I was preparing like I had the job. We're going to hit the ground running, a lot of stuff that coach (Miles) Holcomb did will continue but we're going to go the next level. We're going to continue on the foundation that he's built and everybody else before him. We're going to continue to leave a legacy for everyone else," Stewart told the Gadsden Times after his hire was official.
Stewart was the former Oxford offensive coordinator for the last three seasons. He helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the second round of the AHSAA playoffs. The offense scored 395 points last season. The move continues the trend of offensive minded coaches at Southside. He has spent time as an assistant at Springville, his alma mater, and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa before Oxford.
Stewart will officially start next Monday but will be at Southside High School on March 13 to meet with coaches and players for the first time.
"We are very excited to get him started, get him in there. He's going to meet the coaches in the morning, we are going to do a meet and greet with the players tomorrow. We are just excited to have him with us," Southside High School principal Julie Tucker said.
Southside was in the hunt for a new coach after the departure of Miles Holcomb, who stepped down on February 16 to take the job at Class 7A Tuscaloosa County next week. Holcomb was 18-15 in three seasons but went 8-3 in his final season. He was named the Etowah County schools Coach of the Year for his work.
Southside was coming off its first region title since 2014 after beating Etowah to earn the tiebreaker over Leeds and Moody but now will be moving up to Class 6A and joining Gadsden City's region. They were coming off of three straight playoff appearances, but fell in the first round each season.
The Panthers have to replace a lot of talent from last year's team, including quarterback Gauge Nesmith, who was injured in the second game, running back Mason Teague and linebacker Tytan Rich, both of whom earned top all-county honors. Jamin Brown, a Baylor offensive line commit, does return, though.
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Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports and Jacksonville State athletics for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Etowah County BOE makes Ben Stewart hire official as Southside football coach
