Bobby Bentley, former Gamecock assistant, once again to coach high school football
Bobby Bentley is headed back to high school football coaching ranks.
On Monday, the former South Carolina Gamecocks assistant coach was named the head coach at Battle Ground Academy, a private school located in Franklin, Tennessee. He replaces Jonas Rodriguez, who resigned in November after five seasons.
“Congratulations to @bobbybentley and Battle Ground Academy. Coach Bentley is one of the best to ever coach in SC and I have no doubt will have huge success here in Tennessee as well,” said Erik Kimrey, former SC assistant and state championship high school coach at Hammond, who is now coaching private school football in Tennessee at Baylor School.
Bentley was most recently the lead analyst for Gus Malzhan at Central Florida last season. Before that, he spent two years as an assistant coach at South Florida.
Bentley also spent four years on Will Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina from 2016-19. He spent time as running backs and tight ends coach. Rivals named him among the Top 25 recruiters for the 2019 class.
Bentley is perhaps best known for his work as high school coach at Byrnes High in the Upstate of South Carolina. He went 119-54 over two stints at Byrnes. The Rebels won four consecutive state championships from 2002 to 2005.
He left Byrnes to become head coach Presbyterian College, where he spent one season.
Battle Ground went 5-6 last season and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 10:08 AM.
