Westbrook Christian football hires Piedmont's Steve Smith, 5-time state championship coach

Westbrook Christian football has found its new head coach in multi-time state champion and current Piedmont coach Steve Smith. Smith and Westbrook Christian confirmed the news Friday.

"Steve's legacy goes before him, and this was more of a not necessarily a search but a pursuit. We believe Steve embodies all the qualities that we would want to train our students to live a godly example but also compete and be successful on the athletic field," said Rachel Neal, Westbrook principal.

Smith will be introduced at a Tuesday press conference at 2 p.m. Smith will retire from his role as Piedmont football coach at the end of the school year before moving to Westbrook. Smith has hit his 30 years in public schools and will transition into working at Westbrook, a private school.

"Very grateful for my time here at Piedmont. We've had a great run here together. The administration, boosters and the community have been so receptive to me and my family, I'm very thankful for that," Smith said. "They're doing some wonderful things at Westbrook. They already got the ball rolling on some ideas that they have with their athletic program and the vision they have where they want to go with it, and I'm just excited to get to see what I can contribute to help them try to meet those goals."

Smith won state titles in 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021. Piedmont fell in the 2022 Class 3A state title game after going 12-3. Smith had coached for 17 years at Piedmont and won 16 straight region titles. Between stops at Cedar Bluff and Piedmont, Smith holds a record of 283-81 and a playoff record of 62-22.

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Smith is a graduate of Cherokee County High, where he was an All-State honorable mention quarterback in 1987. He played at Jacksonville State from 1988-91 before becoming a graduate assistant for the 1992 season, when the Gamecocks won the NCAA Division II national championship.

Westbrook finished the 2022 season at 5-5 and missed the playoffs. Coach Drew Noles stepped down at the end of the season and will retire at the end of the school year.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Westbrook Christian football hires Piedmont coach Steve Smith