Samford names new head football coach

On November 9, Samford Sports announced that Chris Hatcher had been relieved of duties as head football coach.

Well, the news just keeps coming. Today, “veteran coach” John Grass was named Samford Football’s 37th head coach.

What we know about John Grass

With more than three decades of college and high school coaching experience, Grass spent nine seasons, eight seasons as head coach, at Jacksonville State University. He spent the last four seasons on the staff at Clemson.

Now, he’s coming to Birmingham to head the Samford Bulldogs.

“When we started the process for hiring our next head football coach, we were very specific with what we were looking for as our next leader.

We wanted someone with head coaching experience and a proven track record of winning. Someone with strong roots and relationships in Alabama and our local community. Someone who understands and embraces the Christian mission of our institution. John Grass is that someone.”  

Martin Newton, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, Samford University 

Take a look at Grass’ college football coaching history:

• Led Jacksonville State football to a 72-26 record
• Won 6 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) titles
• Made OVC-record five-straight championships from 2014-2018
• Named OVC’s “Coach of the Year” in first 3 seasons with JSU
• Named AFCA National Coach of the Year in 2015
• Coached 31 All-Americans + 109 All-OVC players at JSU
• Spent the last 4 seasons assisting with the offense at Clemson University

College ball isn’t all on Grass’ resume—he also has a high school head coaching career record of 123-60 from local and statewide high schools, including:

• Albertville High School
• Ashville High School
• Eufaula High School
• Hoover High School
• Moody High School
• Oxford High School
• Spain Park High School

More football news across Alabama

It’s been a big couple of months for college football. Check out more happening across the state:

• UAB Head Coach Trent Dilfer dismissed: What’s next?
• Who will be UAB’s next head football coach?
• Auburn football introduces Alex Golesh as next head coach
• DJ Durkin to stay on as Auburn’s defensive coordinator
• Jax State to host C-USA Championship for second straight season
• Troy set to play for 3rd Sun Belt championship in 4 years

What do you think of this new addition to Samford Football? Tag us @bhamnow + let us know. Get more news like this when you sign up for our free newsletter.