Matthew Smith to take over HCHS football program

Former Hardin County player Matthew Smith will be the new head football coach at Hardin County High School. Smith was hired last week to replace former head coach William McAdams, who will be the principal at HCHS next year.

Smith has 12 years of coaching experience under his belt. He played at Arkansas State University before taking his first coaching position at Ripley High School as an assistant. After a year at Ripley, Smith returned to Arkansas State as a graduate assistant for one year. Smith’s next coaching stop was a five-year assistant coaching role at California University of Pennsylvania. Smith coached the linebackers and was the special teams coordinator. For the last five years, Smith has served as the defensive coordinator for the Hardin County High School football team.

The new Tiger head coach is excited and appreciative of the opportunity to coach at his alma mater. Smith also stated how much Coach McAdams has meant to him personally through the years. “Coach McAdams has created great tradition here at Hardin County. He’s focused on teaching character, and I want to continue to focus on that area. I learned a great deal from playing for Coach McAdams and understand the importance of character education through football. I want that to be a staple of our program. The character traits that kids learn through football will help them long after their playing days are finished,” said Smith.

Currently, Smith said his focus is on building a team for next year. “I believe football is the ultimate team sport, and we’ve got to instill that in our kids. We’ve got our off-season program coming up soon, and we are looking forward to preparing for next year,” said Smith.

Smith also wanted to encourage the younger athletes in the county to get involved in football. He stated that he wanted a strong focus on building up the youth football leagues and on using the middle school as a feeder program for the high school.