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The Butler County Board of Education voted unanimously Monday evening to appoint Brian Seymore as teacher, head football coach, and athletic director for Greenville High School.

Seymore accepted the position and will transition to Greenville after six successful years at Demopolis High School.

“I’m excited and really blessed to be in this position,” Seymore said. “I know what kind of athletes Greenville has. I know that they want to be coached up, they want to be disciplined in order to do the right things.”

Greenville Principal Jamie Howard said the decision came after the consideration of several strong candidates. Ultimately, Seymore stood out above the rest because of his commitment to the community.

“One of the things about Coach Seymore that stood out was his academic plan, as well as his football plan and how he wanted to integrate within the community and be a part of the community,” Howard said. “He found lessons in our losses. We are excited to see where he takes this program.”

Seymore met with coaches and players on Tuesday. He plans to evaluate current coaches to see if they want to stay and has others in mind to hire if needed. 

Seyhmore said he hopes to get staff in place as soon as possible to begin spring training in May.

Board members and community members expressed delight to hear Seymore’s plans for improving the school’s athletic program at all grade levels. Weight training will play an integral part in those improvements, he explained.

“I’m a big weight room guy,” Seymore said. “I love weights and I think weights are the key, top to bottom, for every program.”

Seymore comes to the program with an impressive 51-17 record. Board member Wayne Boswell said that while Seymore brings strong coaching skills, his primary responsibility is to teach.

“He’s going to teach,’ Boswell said. “We don’t hire coaches, we hire teachers who can coach. He will be a teacher, a good football coach, and the athletic director.”

Seymore described himself as a family man and a man of faith. He plans to run his athletic program with integrity and discipline.

“I want to make those kids do the right things,” Seymore said. “If they can’t do the right things, they won’t be a part of our program. I hope we show sportsmanship and will make the right decisions. But sometimes we don’t do that. I’m not a big running man. When somebody makes a mistake we’ll take the jersey off their back. That gets their attention so that’s how I’m going to work.”

Butler County Schools Superintendent Joseph Eiland said the search committee poured roughly 32 hours into the process of hiring a new head football coach.

“It was a learning process, but at the end there was a united front among the committee members,” Eiland said.

In other business, the board also approved the hire of two new transportation staff members – Ronald Cannon as mechanic and his wife Jody Cannon as transportation secretary.