A familiar face is returning to Southside High School’s football program.
Miles Holcomb, who began working at Southside in 2021 but left in 2024 for the head coaching position at Tuscaloosa County High School, was named head coach for the Panthers at a recent school board meeting.
The father of two left for the head coaching position at Tuscaloosa County last February, but missed the community in Southside.
Holcomb’s previous record with the Panthers was 18-15 overall and 11-7 in region play. Before his role at Southside he was the offensive coordinator at Alpharetta High in Georgia. He was also previously the head coach at Crossville, in 2016 and 2017 leading them to their last playoff appearance. Holcomb was also the 2023 Etowah County football Coach of the Year.
“When you get in this profession, you try to climb this invisible ladder,” Holcomb said. “You do what you think is best for your family, what you think is going to get you to where you want to go.”
But priorities change, Holcomb said. His family missed the community that came along with being a coach at Southside. Although the family is not originally from Southside, his wife Kayla is from Georgia and he is from Crossville, he said the community and the people he works with makes it feel like they are returning home.
“You have a family and you realize that the fit of your family to a program or to a community is really the most important thing,” Holcomb said. “You learn what your goals are and what your aspirations are, and obviously ours changed a little bit but we were fortunate to have a chance to come back.”
The move back allowed him to be more involved with the basketball and baseball teams at the high school, Holcomb said. Working with the basketball coach Chad Holderfield and baseball coach Shane Chappell has given him a more active role as a coach, which he said he enjoys.
“Baseball right now has had a pretty successful start to the season,” Holcomb said. “And we are trying to get everything organized for football.”
A parent meeting was hosted after Holcomb was board approved on March 12, he said it was important to him that the parents know the thought process of why he left in the first place and why he decided to return.
Many of the athletes Holcomb worked with before leaving for Tuscaloosa County are still in the program this season. He said he is excited to teach them further and see them finish out their high school football careers.
“That to me is as fun as anything,” Holcomb said. “I mean, outcomes are outcomes and we let everybody else talk about what the outcomes are and judge us from that. But the most fun thing for me is just teaching.”
Holcomb said it is a coach’s job to put the athletes in the best situation possible to have success under the Friday night lights.
“That’s the most fun thing to me is being connected to them and watching them be connected to each other” Holcomb said. “And, you know, finding some joy in other people having success.”
Looking ahead, Holcomb is excited about the Panthers’ chances later this year.
“We’ve got some guys who I do think are going to have a lot of success,” Holcomb said.
In 2023, Holcomb led the Panthers to a stellar 5-1 region performance (8-3 overall) as they won the Class 5A-Region 6 title. They fell in the first round to Boaz, but it was the third straight first-round appearance for the Panthers.
The talent was still there in 2024, as Southside finished 5-1 in region play (6-5 overall) and secured their fourth-straight first-round appearance. They lost in the first round to Mountain Brook and finished second for Class 5A-Region 8.
