Gilbert, Lugoff-Elgin fill football head coaching vacancies. Here’s the latest
The final two Midlands high school football open coaching jobs are filled.
Gilbert is promoting assistant coach Ozzie Exume to be its next football coach, while Lewisville’s Leon Boulware will be the new Lugoff-Elgin head coach and athletic director.
Both moves were approved at Tuesday school board meetings. Gilbert held a press conference on Wednesday to introduce Exume.
“I feel prepared and feel ready,” Exume said. “.... And this community, there is not a better one on Friday night in the state of South Carolina. They come out, they support, they yell and have a heartbeat of this. For my first (head coaching) job, there is no better place than here. We have gone a long way and my focus is take us a little further.”
Exume, who played at Newberry College, has been Gilbert’s offensive line coach since 2016 and also been the school’s basketball coach. He will no longer coach basketball once he makes the move to lead football.
Exume is the first Black head football coach at a Lexington 1 high school. He replaces Chad Leaphart, who stepped down in December after eight seasons to become Lexington 1’s district athletic director.
“We have accomplished so much in eight years and there is some unfinished business,” Exume said. “My job is not to rebuild what has already been built but to bring it to the next level and the little bit we have haven’t accomplished yet.”
Leaphart went 78-18 overall, breaking Marty Woolbright’s school record for 68 wins. Woolbright was Leaphart’s high school head coach at Gilbert. Under Leaphart, the Indians won four region titles and 10 or more games in a season five times, including this year’s 11-2 record and trip to the Class 3A Lower State semifinals before they lost to Camden, 35-28.
“He has been a tremendous part of our success,” Leaphart said of Exume. “He has done a great job with that group. Kids love him and will run through a wall for him. He has got that personality about him and he is a rising star in this business.”
Exume said having familiarity with the players and being around the program for so long is a big plus.
As far as coaching staff is concerned, Exume wants to keep as many coaches as possible. and will have conversations in the next few days. Gilbert lost one assistant last month when QB coach Greg Woerner became the offensive coordinator at Saluda.
The Indians will return several key players including 1,000-yard backs Trevon Williamson and Jaylen Jay as well leading receiver Krew Morris and leading tackler Wynn Meetze.
In addition to Exume, Nicole Amick has been named the school’s athletic director. She has been the AD at Gilbert Middle School and also Gilbert High’s boys golf coach.
Amick, a Gilbert alum and former three-sport athlete, is the first woman to be an athletic director for a Lexington 1 high school.
“I don’t know if I could put it into words,” Amick said. . “... My role in athletics continued to blossom and led me to administrative role. And the way this school and community helped grow me as a student-athlete and adult, I just want to give that back.”
Gilbert will be moving up from Class 3A to Class 4A next season and be in the region with Airport, Brookland-Cayce, Gray Collegiate, Aiken, South Aiken, Midland Valley and North Augusta.
Amick knows Gilbert might not stay Class 4A long and eventually move up to Class 5A, the state’s biggest class in next few years.
“The growth is here,” Amick said. “... We are not planning for 4A because we know that isn’t a stopping point. We are planning for 5A because we know that is where we are going.”
Gilbert is the first Lexington 1 high school to split its athletic director and football coach duties. Other district high schools have two years to do the same, following the end of the 2023-24 school year.
River Bluff will be the next to make the change and will begin interviews for athletic director this week. Blair Hardin will remain the Gators’ head football coach.
Lugoff-Elgin’s new football coach
Leon Boulware replaces Matt Campbell, who resigned in December to take a job with the Kershaw County School District where he’ll deal with athletics and truancy, among other things.
Boulware led Lewisville High to back-to-back 10-plus win seasons in his two years as head coach. The Lions went 21-4 in two seasons and made it to the Class A quarterfinals in 2022.
Boulware had his first team meeting on Wednesday.
“It went really good. The kids are excited and I am excited,” Boulware said. “When I was coaching wresling and competed against those guys (Lugoff-Elgin), they always had hard-nosed guys and grit. It was always a battle when we played them in high school and I think L-E can be successful in every sport.”
Before Lewisville, Boulware was a successful wrestling coach with stops at Nation Ford, Indian Land, Northwestern and North Myrtle Beach. He led Indian Land to back-to-back state championships in 2019-20.
Lugoff-Elgin also will be making the move up from Class 4A to Class 5A with the next realignment and will be in a region with Blythewood, Ridge View, Spring Valley, Sumter, Westwood and West Florence.
Lugoff-Elgin went 2-9 this season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to South Florence. The Demons’ last winning season came in 2017 when they went 7-5 and made it to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Boulware said he is in the process of finalizing his staff and have “energetic coaches that will get the kids fired up and make it fun.” He also plans to open things up on offense. The Demons have traditionally been a run-first squad.
“We are going to sling it around,” Boulware said.
SC High School Football openings
School — Former Coach — New Coach
Bishop England — John Cantey — Logan Hall
Chesnee — Clay Lewis — TBA
Fort Dorchester — Josh Smith (interim) — Shaun Lorenzano
Gaffney — Dan Jones — TBA (Jones retiring at end of 2024 season)
Gilbert — Chad Leaphart — Ozzie Exume
Gray Collegiate — Adam Holmes — De’Angelo Bryant
Great Falls — Brian Kane — Syvelle Newton
Greenville — Greg Porter — Jaybo Shaw
Heathwood Hall — Rick Reetz — Tymere Zimmerman
Hilton Head Prep — Dustin Etheridge — Doug McFadden
Laurens — Darryl Smith — Greg Porter
Lewisville — Leon Boulware — TBA
Lugoff-Elgin — Matt Campbell — Leon Boulware
Marlboro County — Quinn McCollum — TBA
Rock Hill — Bubba Pittman — TBA
Stall — Benjamin Lailson — Ken Freeman
Scott’s Branch — Randall State — Patrick Fleming
Silver Bluff — De’Angelo Bryant — TBA
St. John’s — Mike Howard — TBA
Swansea — Brent Wilder — Willie Fox
Union County — Brian Thompson — Quinnon Isom
Wade Hampton — Travis Miller — TBA
Wagener-Salley — Willie Fox — TBA
Wando — Rocco Adrian — Isaiah Perrin
Wilson — Rodney Mooney — Glenwood Ferebee
This story was originally published February 20, 2024 at 6:32 PM.
