Former Gamecock QB, wide receiver lands coaching job with in-state school
.JPG "South Carolina football QB Bailey Hart")
Bailey Hart played his high school football for one of the biggest schools in South Carolina at Wando, throwing to a four-star recruit in OrTre Smith.
Now Hart, who finished up his time with the Gamecocks last fall, will start coaching on the small school level.
Johnny Waters, head coach of First Baptist in Charleston, tweeted Hart will join his staff as quarterbacks coach and Hart tweeted the news soon after. Hart is one of a few Gamecocks joining the high school coaching ranks, a group that includes K.C. Crosby and Jacob August.
The opportunity came together through some connections and came at the end of a stretch looking at different jobs and pursuits. He had started working for Perry Orth’s QB1 quarterback training company, and that led to a conversation with Waters.
“Coach Waters came out to a couple of training sessions,” Hart said. “Was kind of just chit chatting with him. We’ve known the Waters for a long time. Grew up with JT (Johnny’s son and wide receivers coach) and all them. So we’ve known them for a long time, and coach (Jim) Daniel over there too My dad’s known him forever. So it was one of those things where coach Waters just called me one night was like, ‘Hey you know, I might have some for you.’”
The connections run deep, as Hart had been working with Will Daniel, Jim’s son. Hart added he had plenty of coaching linage in his family, as his grandfather coached as Sumter, his father coached him and his brothers growing up. One older brother will coach at a new school opening in Mount Pleasent, while his oldest brother coached a few years at Pendleton.
Hart was a walk-on in Columbia, starting out as a quarterback and then moving over to wide receiver. He played in 11 games across 2018 and 2019, catching one pass and getting one carry.
As a high school senior, he had 2,605 yards and 20 touchdowns, completing 56 percent of his passes. The 6-foot-3, 185 pounder put out a satirical draft workout video in the spring and finished his public health degree in the spring of 2019.
He did one semester of graduate school last fall, but decided he didn’t want to do the full two-year program. After departing, he lived with his brother in Anderson, interviewing for various jobs in medical device sales.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a hold on that, and he returned home to the Charleston area, working for a moving company for a stretch and figuring out his next moves.
He recently got hired by Dottie’s Pharmacy working in sales and marketing as well as being a pharmacy tech. The job there in part informed him landing at First Baptist.
Unlike many public schools, the Hurricanes practice later in the day, meaning he can hold that job and help out in the volunteer coaching role.
“I knew getting out of school that I’d want to coach,” Hart said. “But I just didn’t know if I wanted to teach at the school or what that would look like.
“It’s about a mile from where I’m working. And so it really just lined up perfectly.”
The Hurricanes went 8-4 last season and won SCISA state titles in 2016 and 2017. Will Daniel threw for 2,779 yards, 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions last season and is set to return as a senior.
Hart admitted playing some wide receiver taught him more about the wider view of the game. He also said he talked over his coaching aspirations with some folks around the South Carolina football building.
“I talked with coach McClendon, I talked with coach Muschamp a little bit, coach Bentley,” Hart said. “Just kind of expressed that I was interested in coaching. Not sure what capacity it would be but they all gave me some good advice. And I actually even spoke with Coach Kimrey over at Hammond, and he gave me some good advice.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 11:16 AM.
