By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — New Hewitt-Trussville head football coach Josh Floyd is excited about his new challenge.
Floyd, the former Shiloh (Ark.) Christian High School head coach, was named the new Huskies head coach Thursday, and he will be approved Monday at 5 p.m. by the Trussville City Board of Education.
Floyd said he wasn’t looking for a new job, but as he kept listening to Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill talk about the job, he got more and more excited. There is already good support of the program, he said.
“I just hope we can bring even more excitement to Friday nights,” said Floyd, who will teach physical education at Hewitt-Trussville.
Floyd visited Hewitt-Trussville High School and the city last week. He said he fell in love with the school and the community, and got excited about the possibilities. He said Hewitt-Trussville ascending to the new 32-team Class 7A will be a “great challenge.”
Josh Floyd
photo courtesy of shilohchristianfootball.com
“I think that’s an exciting, challenging part of it,” he said. “It’s going to be very difficult. It’s not going to be an easy process by any means.”
Floyd played quarterback at Shiloh Christian under Gus Malzahn, now the Auburn University head football coach.
“Congrats to my former QB Josh Floyd on getting Trussville HS head coaching job,” Malzahn Tweeted on Thursday afternoon. “Big-time coach!”
Floyd said his offense will look similar to what Auburn does. It will be a fast-paced, no-huddle style. He said players having an enthusiasm for the game and playing with passion is a big deal. A “tremendous” strength and conditioning program is a “big necessity” for his program, Floyd said.
Was it hard for Floyd to leave Shiloh Christian, to uproot his wife and three sons?
“It was very difficult just because I’ve invested a lot in this place,” he said.
He went to school there and his wife teaches in the school system. The three sons have grown up there. The Shiloh Christian football team could compete for a state championship this season. Floyd has four of those titles.
“At the end of the day, we just felt like the time was right,” Floyd said. “Sometimes you want a new challenge and this happened to be something we just prayed about a lot and we feel like it’s the Lord’s will for us to be there. That’s what we’re trying to follow and I’m ready to get down there and get to work.”
Floyd said he hopes to work out the details of who becomes assistant coaches in the next couple weeks. That process — talking to coaches at Shiloh Christian and Hewitt-Trussville — will go quickly because the hiring comes late in the process, some 90 days until Week 1.
“I think it’s important to bring some people that you trust and know your system and know what’s going on,” Floyd said.
Floyd was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in May 2012. “Fortunately,” he said, the disease hasn’t affected him much. He felt numbness in his left side that didn’t go away, and a doctor confirmed it was MS. A medication change a year ago has things going well, he said.
“I’ve been blessed it hasn’t bothered me much at all,” he said.
Floyd said he got to visit the site of the new Hewitt-Trussville Stadium on his visit last week. He said it was “awesome.”
“I think it’s one of those things that gives you more pride,” Floyd said. “The goal is to fill that thing up and make it a tough place to play.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
