Varnado has named Anthony Hicks its new head football coach.

“I’m very excited about taking the job over here at Varnado High School. When I think about Varnado, I kind of watched the program grow up from them leaving that district with Southern Lab and coming over here and being in this district. It kind of stretches all the way around to Houma, which is a good little travel, but I feel like I watched them growing and watched coach Scott (Shaffett) come in here and do a great job. They’ve been in the quarters the last two years and unfortunately they didn’t get over the hump, but still, that’s quite impressive in my eyes,” Hicks said. “Being able to come to a program that’s what, top 10 in the state every year before the season starts in Class 1A, public school, that speaks volumes to me and hopefully I can continue to keep the tradition of winning going on and go a little farther in the playoffs.”

Hicks said he thankful for the job Shaffett and all of his assistants have done to bring the program to where it is now.

Hicks brings plenty of coaching experience to Varnado. He has been a head coach every year since 2011 except for last season when he was the outside linebackers coach at East Jefferson.

Hicks spent the 2011 season as the head coach of North Central before heading to Peabody from 2012-2014. He began the program at Centerville in 2015. The team played junior varsity in 2015 and varsity in 2016. After a year as Northside’s head coach, Hicks went to East Jefferson prior to taking the job at Varnado.

Hicks was an assistant coach from 2005-2010. Among those years, Hicks coached at his alma mater Hattiesburg High School along with Clarksdale and Raymond, which are all in Mississippi. He was also the junior varsity coach at Clarksdale.

Hicks, 34, is a 2002 graduate of Hattiesburg High School. Hicks played free safety for Hattiesburg.

Varnado principal Jennifer Beninato praised Hicks.

“He’s enthusiastic, he’s ready to get to work, he is very knowledgeable about the game and he comes with experience. He has a very similar background to a lot of the students here at Varnado and he’s already met some of the boys and they immediately took to him. I think that he is going to be a perfect fit for our kids and work well with their other coaches and continue for Varnado to be successful with our football program,” Beninato said.