Westwood lands new football coach. Here’s the latest
Westwood rolled out the red carpet for new football coach Stephen Burris.
With a red carpet in the gym and the school’s ROTC members holding up swords, Burris walked out with and was introduced as the fifth coach in program history Wednesday.
Burris comes to Westwood after spending two seasons as Lamar High head coach. Under Burris, the Silver Foxes went 9-4 each year, won a region title in 2023 and made it to the third round of the Class A playoffs.
“It was going to take a lot for to me leave Lamar because it is a special place on its own,” Burris said. “So when the process began and I kind of made known what my needs were. It became even more evident that the stars kind of aligned for me to get back here and do some things that I envisioned myself doing at Lamar but on a bigger scale with Westwood being a 5A school.
“The support here with everything going on a personal level is out of this world.”
Burris replaces Rob O’Connell, who resigned in February after three seasons. Burris and his family have a strong connection with Westwood. His late wife, Kimberly, was a teacher there. She died in December.
Burris became emotional talking about his wife and two children, who were in attendance along with his mother-in-law.
“Very excited to extend her legacy here and make her proud. I know she is watching,” Burris said of his wife. “This school has always been special to her so when the opportunity arose, there was no way I could pass it up.”
Before Lamar, Burris spent 16 seasons as an assistant coach with stops at Ridge View, Conway and Socastee high schools in Horry County and then at York High School. He also was at Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut from 2017-20 before returning to South Carolina.
Ridge View coach Derek Howard, one of Burris’ good friends, attended Wednesday’s news conference. The two will face each other next season, with the two schools in the same region.
The Redhawks went 6-6 this season and made it to the second round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs. It was the most wins for the program since 2019 and the first time since then that Westwood won a playoff game.
Burris said he hopes to be in place at Westwood by the end of the month or early April and is in the process of putting together his coaching staff.
With Burris’ hire, there are three area football programs still looking for a head coach — River Bluff, CA Johnson and Cardinal Newman. River Bluff conducted first interviews last week and is expected to hold second-round interviews this week.
SC Football Coaching Openings
School — Former Coach — New Coach
Academic Magnet — Mitch White — Austin Miller
Aiken — Dwayne Garrick — Steve Hibbitts
Allendale-Fairfax — Tristain Armstrong — Travis Lewis
Brookland-Cayce — Rusty Charpia — Louis Clyburn
CA Johnson — Scotty Dean — TBA
Cardinal Newman — Cory Helms — TBA
Daniel — Jeff Fruster — TBA
First Baptist —Jamaal Birch — Kevin Mapp
Gaffney — Dan Jones — Donnie Littlejohn
Greenville — Jaybo Shaw — Steve Watson
JL Mann — Steve Watson — Bryce Smiley
Keenan — Ray McCleod — Jarrett Neely
Kingstree — Brian Smith — TBA
Laurence Manning — Robbie Briggs — Jimmy Noonan
Lexington — Dustin Curtis — Stewart Young
Midland Valley — Earl Chaptman — Brent Dorn
Nation Ford — Michael Allen — Jake Bentley
Oceanside Collegiate — John Patterson (interim) — Brent LaPrad
Orangeburg Prep — Don Shelley — Brooks Smith
Pelion — Dann Holland — Cory Helms
Porter-Gaud — Brad Bowles — Matt Neighbors
River Bluff — Blair Hardin — TBA
Saluda — Stewart Young — Greg Woerner
Southside — Roy Ravenell — AJ Millis
Southside Christian — Mike Sonneborn — Jonathan Gess
Spring Valley — Nygel Pearson — Norman Washington
Trinity Collegiate — Jared Amell — Shawn Fagan
Westwood — Rob O’Connell — Stephen Burris
West Ashley — Donnie Kiefer — Rashad Graham
West Florence — Jody Jenerette — Chad Wilkes
Whale Branch — Jerry Hatcher — TBA
Wilson — Daryl Page (interim) — Brian Wilson
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM.
