It's been an active week in Conecuh County high school coaching moves

Sparta Ac. headmaster Russ Brown, left with new coach Arlton Hudson.

On the local sports scene, it’s been a very active week when it comes to high school coaching moves.

Sparta Academy announced last Thursday that Arlton Hudson had been selected as the school’s new football coach, replacing former coach Justin Chandler. Over at Hillcrest High School, news broke over the weekend that head boys basketball coach Chenson Griffin was leaving to take the head boys basketball coaching job at Alma Bryant High School in Irvington.

Over the past 20 years, I’d spoken to Hudson several times on the phone, going back to his days when he was head football coach at Hillcrest, but I’d never met him in person prior to last Thursday. Hudson’s reputation precedes him, especially when you consider that he’s been a winner everywhere he’s ever coached. I have no doubt, based on his track record, that he will have success at Sparta.

On the other side of the coin, I hated to see Justin Chandler leave Sparta. Chandler is a good man and always worked well with the newspaper. Chandler is a young coach with many years ahead of him, and I look for him to have a very successful career.

I also hated to read over the weekend that Chenson Griffin was leaving Hillcrest to go to Alma Bryant. Griffin is another good man and young coach, who also worked well with the newspaper. His teams at Hillcrest were among the best in school history, and Alma Bryant’s basketball program immediately got better when he signed on as their new coach.

As of Monday morning when this column was written, Griffin’s replacement at Hillcrest had not been officially announced. Whoever gets the job will step into the driver’s seat of one of the top programs in the state, and it goes without saying that they will have big shoes to fill. Conecuh County has several coaches already in the system who could ably fill this job, so it’ll be interesting to see who gets picked to lead Hillcrest’s varsity boys team.

School lets out for students at both schools in a couple of weeks, and there’s not much left on the sports calendar between now and then except for Hillcrest’s spring football game on May 17. That game will kick off at 7 p.m. just like a regular season game, and it would be nice to have a big crowd on hand to support the Jags. Thomasville High School will furnish the opposition, and they usually field a good team, so it should be a good game.

The upcoming spring game will allow local fans to see some of Hillcrest’s top prospects in action. Cam Riley, Eddie Watkins Jr., Andray Pope, Jacobee Bryant and others are getting major attention on the recruiting trail, and they will be a force to be reckoned with next fall. Hillcrest head football coach Clinton Smith has said that he’s expecting big things out of next year’s team.

Reading between the lines, I think Smith is confident that they will have all the weapons they’ll need to compete for the Class 4A state title. Local sports fans have all of that to look forward to, and the season will be here before you know it. Hillcrest is scheduled to kick off their 2019 regular season schedule on Aug. 23 against Greenville High School at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen. That’s just 105 days and a wake-up away.