Former East Central Hornets head football coach Seth Smith was announced as Pearl River Community College's 18th head football coach in school history today.
"We are thrilled to welcome coach Smith and his family back home to Pearl River Community College. He emulates everything we want on our campus and to lead our football program. His passion and energy are contagious. Seth wore the Pearl River uniform and embraces the enormity of this responsibility. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to build champions on and off the field," said Pearl River President Dr. Adam Breerwood.
Smith started his coaching career at Picayune Memorial High School in 2004 as running backs and defensive backs coach, and defensive coordinator. He left Picayune after the 2008 season, moving to Pearl River Central for two years serving as defensive coordinator.
From there, Smith served as East Central head coach since 2013. He has a 53-34 record as head coach, guiding East Central to their first playoff appearance in 12 years in the 2014 season. In 2017 and 2018 seasons, Smith guided East Central to undefeated regular-season records, finishing as the Class 4A runner-up in 2017 and South State runner-up in 2018. He was recognized as East Central's winningest coach in school history in the 2018 season.
East Central moved to Class 5A football this season, qualifying for the playoffs but the Hornets fell to West Jones 56-20 in the first round of the playoffs.
Seth Smith addresses questions as new head football coach.
"This is home. It all started here. For me, there was a lot of growth here, from learning how to go from a young boy to learn how to become a young man, I'm truly humbled to have this opportunity to come back here. I do realize the magnitude of this job and what a great opportunity it is to coach these young men that we're fixing to coach," said Smith.
Smith's education includes graduating from Pearl River Central H.S. with high honors, an Associate's degree from Pearl River Community College, a Bachelor's degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a Master's degree from Williams Carey University. He is married to his wife, Devin Smith, and four children Tucker, Tyke, Titan, and Trac.
“This truly is an honor. I knew as a young man coaching is what I wanted to do and I had no idea that one day I would have the opportunity to come back and coach here,” said Smith.
Smith stated he is excited to hit the recruiting trail for athletes who need an opportunity to shine like he once needed himself.
“That is why I’m here. I think it is neat to have an opportunity to go pick the guys that fit what you do. That will be the biggest difference from high school to JUCO football. You know as much as I do about recruiting, so I have to learn fast. I’ve got to hurry up and get settled in where I can get in and get educated. But absolutely, we are going to do our best to win our district because we feel like if we can dominate our district then we can bring that back together. That is going to be our selling point: to dominate our district. It’ll be cool to go up to Corinth, Senatobia, or even out of state to bring that pride and passion back here to Pearl River.”
Pearl River football finished the 2019 season 3-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play. To view a video of his press conference, click here.
