Nolensville hires Scott Stidham as new TSSAA football coach, replacing Paul Derrick
Nolensville has hired Scott Stidham as its new football coach.
Stidham recently went 13-20 with three TSSAA football playoff appearances at Independence in three seasons, from 2022-24. Independence fired him in November, saying the school wanted to go in another direction, and ultimately hired Stidham's predecessor, Scott Blade.
Nolensville made Stidham's hire official on April 14. He replaces Paul Derrick, who resigned as Nolensville's coach on March 25 after helping build Nolensville into a consistent winning program.
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"I am honored to follow in the footsteps of (Derrick) and before him, Will Hester," Stidham said in a release. "They laid the foundation in 2016, and they are why Knights football has been so succesful. I look forward to working daily with the coaches and players to continue to make this program something that our school and the entire Nolensville community will be proud of."
The Knights have had just two losing records in nine years. Derrick, who was an assistant under Hester when the program began, never missed the playoffs and led the Knights to the Class 4A state semifinals twice during his tenure. He led Nolensville to a region title in 2022 and finished with a 58-28 record.
Nolensville's Class 4A semifinals teams in 2019 and 2020 both fell to Elizabethton. The 2019 team included Class 4A Mr. Football winner Tim Coutras.
Nolensville was a legitimate Class 5A title contender in 2022. The Knights captured a region title over eventual state runner-up Page but lost the teams' state quarterfinal rematch, 35-28.
Stidham went 79-41 at South Gibson and led the Hornets to the playoffs nine times in 13 seasons before he moved to Independence. That included region championships in 2012 and 2019.
"We are so excited to introduce (Stidham) as our next head football coach," Nolensville athletic director Zach Hudson said in the release. "Coach Stidham is a tremendous leader of young people and brings a proven track record of success to our school. We are excited about the direction of our football program under his leadership."
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA football: Scott Stidham named Nolensville coach
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