Ethel didn’t have to look far to find its next head football coach.
After head coach Adam Smith resigned to take the head job at Loyd Star, Ethel turned to boys basketball coach L.V. Smith as the new football coach.
Smith was an assistant on last year’s team. The former college player said the process happened fairly fast.
“Our former head coach ended up getting a job that was better for his family and his support system,” Smith said. “When it opened up, our administration thought I was the guy that we needed for the job. They brought me in and I prayed about it and God gave me a clear sign that this is where I needed to be.”
Smith played his high school football at West Oktibbeha County before playing at Northeast Mississippi Community College. After Northeast, Smith played at North Carolina Central where he was an all-conference punt returner and receiver.
After graduating from North Carolina Central, Smith went into coaching as an assistant at Ethel. Smith then left Ethel and spent a year at Leake Central where he he coached receivers and was the head junior high coach. But Smith went back to Ethel to where he was an assistant and the head boys basketball coach.
Smith said he just wants to continue the positive energy produced the last two years.
“The next step for me is to keep the program headed in the right direction,” Smith said. “Coach (Adam) Smith changed the culture and made guys love football and want to be good at what they do. I’m trying to keep that competitive mindset and keep the program headed in the right direction. I want to keep them bought in and continue to have fun and keep striving to get better every day.”
Smith said Ethel has had some spring practices to learn the new terminology on both sides of the football but will not play in a spring game.
“We wanted to teach the guys the new schemes and formations,” Smith said. “And we still had some baseball guys playing in the playoffs so we thought it best not to play in a spring game. We didn’t want them to be unprepared for a game-like situation. We just wanted to use the spring to teach each phase of the game.”
Smith said he will use some of the same concepts on offense but hopes to used a more balanced approach on offense.
