I spoke with Derrick Johnson one afternoon about a month a go, and he told me on that day, that Scott Bell, the former head football coach at High Point Christian Academy, would become the new head football coach at Ben L. Smith High School…
Derrick Johnson, right again….Derrick Johnson is the former head baseball coach at Smith HS, and he also was an assistant basketball coach for the girls and boys at Smith, and he was the girls head basketball coach at Reidsville High School, until he retired back around 2019….
Derrick Johnson knows what is going within the local sports community, and he knows Ben L. Smith athletics almost to the tee, since he is also a proud graduate of Ben L. Smith High School….
Now that we have Coach J’s credentials out of the way/established, what about this new football coach at Ben L. Smith High School???
His name is Scott Bell, and he is the former football coach at High Point Christian Academy, where he had much success…He was always trying to get the public schools to play his private school, HPCA, and now maybe he can get a game between Smith and HPCA on the Smith Golden Eagles upcoming football schedule…
Coach Bell is right at 55 years old, and in addition to him having high school football coaching experience, he also played college football for Guilford College…He knows the layout of the local football landscape, whether it be high school, or college football….Bell was very successful in getting his HPCA Cougar football players into college, and many of them ended up playing college football…
Scot Bell is not a teacher, so he will be at Smith High School as a local businessman, who coaches high school football, but does not teach….It may take Coach Bell a little longer to get to know his players, but in the past, not being a teacher, and not being on campus with the students during class time, this has not hindered Coach Bell’s ultimate success, as a high school football coach….
from Joe Sirera post at Twitter and at HSXTRA.com:Scott Bell coached High Point Christian for seven seasons. The HPCA Cougars went 57-18 during his tenure and won back-to-back NCISAA state championships in 2015 (Division I) and 2016 (Division II).
We are hoping to get a full release with more info from Smith High School later on today, but if you will CLICK HERE, you can get lots of great info from Joe Sirera, at the News and Record…I am thinking Joe was over at Smith HS this morning for the 10am press conference and introduction of the new coach, Scott Bell, but I could be wrong here…
We were unable to attend the press conference this morning, due to the need to attend a funeral…Ironically, it was the funeral for the father of Joey Gladson, Joey the former Smith High School baseball coach, and the former very successful Smith High School assistant wrestling coach….Crazy how all of these things are usually connected somehow, some way….Saw Derrick Johnson about a month ago, and he is a former very strong Ben L. Smith connection, and saw Joey Gladson this morning, another former Ben L. Smith athletics connection….
It has always been an interesting journey, and the trip down the road has been very fulfilling…
Good luck to Coach Bell and Coach Streater! ……..Make it happen.