Mt. Hermon School has selected Henry Crawford its new head football coach to replace Gwynn Holmes, who recently resigned the position

“I took this job because I wanted to be a head coach, not because there was nobody else,” Crawford said. “I have been exposed to a great deal of football and I think that has prepared me for this challenge. I jumped at the opportunity.

“Right now, I can devote a lot of time to the football program and I think that really helps me. I have seen two different sides of the it and am looking to somehow merge them together to get more kids participating and to push them to get better by building a good foundation.”

Crawford, a graduate of Jewel Sumner High School and LSU, enters his fourth year at Mt. Hermon after serving one year under Chris Fussell in the Yellowjackets’ inaugural season and the past two under Holmes as defensive coordinator.

Holmes was 2-8 last year, the Yellowjackets’ first season competing for district honors. Mt. Hermon’s baseball coach, he moves on to St. Helena Central in that capacity and will serve as an assistant football coach.

“Everything has worked out for the best,” Holmes said. “It was unexpected but that is the coaching business for you.”

Crawford said he plans to move from a Spread offense to a mixture of the Wing-T and Flexbone. On defense, the Yellowjackets ran a 3-5 last year but could go to a 4-4 this season.

“We hope to incorporate some different blocking schemes to utilize our smaller, quicker lineman this year,” Crawford said. “We just have to wait and see who shows up and where we need to plug in holes.”

The Yellowjackets’ program is still in its infancy and numbers remain a concern at the school with a Class B enrollment.

“It is an obstacle to overcome but I don’t think it is a death nail to the program,” Crawford said. “As small as we are, we do have some fairly good athletes. We are just going to have to deal with it the way it is.”

Mt. Hermon opens the regular season by hosting Springfield on Aug. 31.

“Hopefully, under my terms, we can get it headed in the right direction and in the next few years, we can really see some positive things from the kids,” Crawford said.