DUDLEY — Southern Wayne’s Matt Hine, who spent last season as the team’s defensive coordinator, has been promoted to head coach.
Hine is replacing former head coach Frank Coston, and he has only been coaching at Southern Wayne for one season.
Still, he has a total of 20 years’ worth of coaching experience at the middle school, junior varsity and varsity levels.
“Last year was my 20th year coaching,” Hine said. “(My family and I) moved to North Carolina in July of last summer. I met coach (Frank) Coston, who was the last head coach here ... on a (football) message board online, and we struck up a friendship.”
Hine will continue to serve as the team’s defensive coordinator in addition to his new role as head coach.
Hine said he was made aware he had been selected for the job on Jan. 5, less than a month after he first interviewed to become the Saints’ new head football coach.
“I interviewed in December right before we left for Christmas vacation,” Hine said. “I had a couple of follow-up phone calls with people over Christmas vacation. I found out (I was hired) after school on Thursday, Jan. 5.”
Hine said he was interested in applying for the head coach position because he wanted to stay at the school where two of his children attend.
He also said he was interested in the job because he wanted to help Southern Wayne continue its improvement from last season when the Saints earned more than two wins (three) for the first time since the 2011 season.
“My two oldest children go here, and they really like it here. So I would have applied for the job no matter what, but I think one of the most attractive things about the job was kind of seeing that step forward,” Hine said.
More from this section
“To me, it’s all new because I haven’t been here, but from what people told me about the history (of the program) and what the product looked like on the field for at least a decade prior to last year, I do think we took a nice step forward last year. And I certainly am hoping to build on that.”
Hine also works as a special education teacher at Southern Wayne, and he said one of his strengths as a coach is being a strong communicator, which he said he learned from years of teaching exceptional children.
“I think probably my greatest strength as a coach is that I can form relationships with kids from a variety of different paths and walks of life. I think I have a tremendous amount of patience because of the nature of who you work with as an E.C. teacher,” Hine said.
“I think I have a special ability to meet kids where they are and form good relationships with them, and (I’m) just able to relate to them on a personal level.”
Hine added he excels at defensive play calling and teaching defensive techniques on the football field.
“In terms of football, I think certainly, just based on the years I’ve been a defensive coordinator now, that I certainly bring a lot to the table defensively,” Hine said. “I think my teams always show up and tackle and play hard. I think that’s a big strength for me.”
Even though Hine has only been on the job for two months, he has been busy working and planning for the upcoming football season, and he said he only has one remaining spot to fill on his coaching staff.
Hine also said the next hire would determine what position groups he coaches this upcoming season.
“I have one more coach I am going to hire. So I think it’s kind of up the air on whether I’m going to work with the offensive line in addition to the defense this year. I’m certainly going to keep coaching the defense. I will (continue as the defensive coordinator), certainly at least this year.”