The Coffee County flag football team will have a new coach at the helm when it returns for its second season this spring, but it will be a familiar face for returning players.

Earlier this month, Preston Smith was named the new head coach of the Lady Raider program after being on the inaugural staff as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator this past season. He will be taking over for Bobby Butler, who is now at Shelbyville Central.

“I’m excited. I’m a little nervous because it’s my first head coaching job, but rightfully so,” Smith said. “But the main part is I’m ready to work with the girls.”

Despite this being his first head coaching position, Smith is no stranger to working on the sidelines. The Red Raider running backs coach is going into his ninth year coaching football overall and third year at Coffee County.

Outside of coaching tackle football, he has played competitive flag football for over a decade. This past season with the Lady Raiders was his first on a flag football coaching staff.

“It came out of nowhere. Bobby (Butler) asked if we get a program, could you help and I said sure,” Smith said of joining the flag football coaching staff last year. “These are good players to coach, so I’ve enjoyed it.”

While Smith was new to coaching flag football last year, it was also a new sport not only for the area but for many of the girls who played on the team as well.

There were some learning curves, but the girls found their groove and went on to finish the team’s inaugural season with an 8-2 overall record. In this span, the Lady Raiders’ only losses on the year were against two of the top teams in the state in Ravenwood and Warren County.

“I was honored to be a part of it, just it being its first year,” Smith said. “We still have a lot to learn, but we had success fast against good teams.”

The team continued to show growth over the course of the season, but it was during the team’s road game against Columbia Central on March 20 that Smith thought things were starting to click early on.

“We got our first touchdown, on defense at that,” Smith said of the Columbia game. “Our offense scored after that, and I just think it finally clicked that we can actually play.”

The Lady Raiders ultimately beat the Lady Lions 6-0 before defeating Shelbyville Central 20-0 in Columbia later that evening for what were the first wins in program history.

Coffee County went on to host Warren County for its first-ever home game on April 2. While the top five ranked Lady Pioneers won the game 21-0, Smith said it was that game and the effort the team showed that proved Lady Raider flag football was here to stay and had a bright future.

“Our girls here, they held their heads up high. They knew we competed,” Smith said of the game. “At the end of the day, the better team won, but we showed up, we let them know that we’re gonna be here for a while.”

With momentum on the team’s side following the success Coffee County had last season, Smith is excited to see what the Lady Raiders can do next season. He said the returning players’ attitudes and drive to win are what he was most looking forward to in his new role as head coach.

“Just our mentality to expect in the big games,” Smith said. “Just coming in knowing that we’re gonna compete and we expect to win against those tougher games.”

Smith added that his goals for this season and beyond are to sustain this standard that has been set and hopefully go even further. His belief in the program’s trajectory was reflected in how he has gone about scheduling future opponents.

“Just maintain our competition level. Just keep our head down and work. We’re in offseason right now, we’re lifting weights and stuff like that,” Smith said. “I told them I’m gonna schedule tougher competition simply just because I think we’re good enough to compete with those other teams, so just have that mindset just to come in and compete. Everything else will take care of itself.”

Smith’s additional longterm goals for the program are to see it go from the club level to the varsity level.

“We eventually want to be sanctioned. That will happen sooner than later. With Coffee County, girls’ athletics are pretty strong, so once we get sanctioned, I’m expecting us to compete for a state championship,” Smith said. “Long-term wise, that’s the end game. Once we get sanctioned, compete for a state championship and that’s how I treat it. Even though we’re a club team right now, I treat it as if we’re a TSSAA sport, so once we get sanctioned, we will be prepared so we don’t have to get prepared.”