Brent Hill takes over the reins of the Fighting Irish and ‘is excited to join the Notre Dame family’
Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga announced on Feb. 7 that Brent Hill has been appointed head football coach. He was introduced in a press conference in the Michael & Eleanor Miller Theater on Feb. 8.
At North Florida Christian School, Mr. Hill compiled a 28-11 record with a record-setting offense. (Photo courtesy Will Musto)
Previously serving as assistant athletics director and head football coach at North Florida Christian School in Tallahassee, Mr. Hill returns to Chattanooga, where he once pursued his education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“This is an exciting new era of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football,” Notre Dame head of school Deacon Hicks Armor said. “Brent has a proven record of building and rebuilding both high school football teams and athletic departments, and more importantly than that: he has cultivated character-driven athletes throughout his career.”
In his two-plus decades of work, Mr. Hill has served in both private and public schools as a teacher, coach, and athletics director. His career began at Briarcrest Christian School in 2001, where he worked under the tutelage of Hugh Freeze, now the head football coach at Auburn University.
“We made a promise to our community that we would search quickly and thoroughly, and we are thrilled to introduce Brent as the school’s next head football coach,” Notre Dame athletics director Brian Gill said. “Brent has built powerhouse offenses from the ground up at every school he’s worked and has been an instrumental part of many facility improvements at every stop.”
While at North Florida Christian School, Mr. Hill compiled a 28-11 record and an offensive juggernaut; in each of the last two years, the Eagles recorded more offensive yards and scored more points than any other team in their classification, and both years the team reached the state semifinals. Before working at North Florida Christian School, Mr. Hill served as athletics director and head football coach at Opp High School in Opp, Ala., where the team broke the school record for points scored in a season three times.
“We are excited to join the Notre Dame family,” Mr. Hill said. “It brings us back to our roots in Chattanooga, and I’m looking forward to building a well-known football program in Division II-AA. Our prayer is to develop young men that make our stakeholders proud!”
In his career, Mr. Hill has led 14 teams to playoff runs, including championships with Evangelical Christian School in Memphis and St. George’s Independent School in Collierville, Tenn.
Mr. Hill and his wife, Betsy, are proud parents of McKinley and Briggs.
At Briarcrest Christian in Eads, Tenn., on Mr. Freeze’s staff, Mr. Hill helped lead the school to a state-runner-up finish in 2002. He also served as director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Briarcrest.
Brent Hill poses at Jim Eberle Field with wife Betsy. (Photo courtesy Will Musto)
Moving on to Evangelical Christian School in Cordova, Tenn., in 2002, Mr. Hill coached on teams that won a state title in 2006, finished runner-up in 2005, and made the state semifinals in 2004.
At St. George’s Independent School, from 2006 to 2014, Mr. Hill served as athletics director and head coach. His teams there won state titles in 2007 and 2011, finished runner-up in 2010, reached the semifinals in 2012, and made the quarterfinals in 2008 and 2009. He was named TSSAA, Tennessee Sports Writers Association, and FCA coach of the year in 2011. He also served as FCA director at St. George’s.
Moving to Opp High School from 2014 to 2020, Mr. Hill saw his teams win the region in 2014 and 2016 and score the most points in school history three times.
At North Florida, Mr. Hill was named Florida Athletic Coaches Association coach of the year two years in a row, 2022 and 2023. He coached a quarterback who broke a school record with 3,284 passing yards and a 39-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Mr. Hill succeeds Charles Fant as head coach of Notre Dame. Mr. Fant stepped down in January after leading the Fighting Irish program since 2012.
