First football coach locked in for new charter school ALA Blythewood
The newest school in the Midlands has its first football coach.
Todd Varn, a former Airport High standout who spent more than 20 years in college coaching, will be the first football coach at American Leadership in Blythewood. The school made the announcement official on Thursday.
Varn coached last season as offensive coordinator at St. Joseph’s High School in Greenville, but most of his coaching experience has been in college with stops at Charleston Southern, Western Carolina, VMI, Presbyterian and Newberry College.
Varn was a standout running back in the 1980s at Airport High School. He earned Shrine Bowl honors at running back and was inducted into Airport’s first hall of fame class in 2004.
Varn played at NC State where he amassed 1,612 total yards and 11 career touchdowns for the Wolfpack before getting into coaching.
Varn is the latest hire for ALA Blythewood. Former Blythewood and Eastside football coach Dan Morgan has been named the school’s athletic director. The school announced the hires of baseball coach Matthew Hornsby, girls soccer coach Mackenzie Azuero and girls volleyball coach Brandi Thompson.
Hornsby was head coach at Dreher High School and then at Gray Collegiate. He stepped down just before the season started this year at GC.
Auero is a Colorado native and former goalkeeper at Presbyterian.
ALA Blythewood will play a junior varsity schedule this year before transitioning to varsity the following season.
The SC High School League approved ALA Blythewood for at-large membership for 2026-27 school year. They won’t be in a conference and can’t make the playoffs in the transition period.
Most of the sports will be junior varsity the first year, but Morgan said boys and girls basketball plans to play a varsity schedule and other sports might as well.
SC Football Coaching Openings
School — Former Coach — New Coach
AC Flora — Ken Floyd — Willie Offord
ALA Blythewood (School opens in 2026-27) — N/A — Todd Varn
Belton-Honea Path — Russell Blackston — David Crane
Chapin — Ryan Cole — Cory Helms
Chester — Victor Floyd — Jerry Caldwell
Clover — Perry Woolright — Bennett Swygert
Colleton County — Adam Kinloch — Bradley Adams
Conway — Josh Pierce — Jody Jenerette
Goose Creek — Jason Winstead — Jamie Fordham
Green Sea Floyds — Patrick Martin — Ty Southerland
Hillcrest — Bennett Swygert — Amos Lamb
Lake Wylie — (School opens in 2026) — N/A — Nick Pelham
Lakewood — Willie Offord — Jerran Devlin
Liberty — Paul Sutherland — Bobby Ruff
McCormick — Leroy Collier — Daniel Burton
Marion — Brian Hennecy — TBA
May River — Richard Bonneville — Stephen Nimmer
Mid-Carolina — Chris Arnoult — Jody Haltiwanger
Ninety-Six — Matthew Bennett — Austin Sargent
North Myrtle Beach — Greg Hill — Perry Woolbright
Pelion — Cory Helms — Matthew Bennett
Richland Northeast — Walt Wilson — TBA
Seneca — David Crane — Drec Ellis
South Florence — Drew Marlowe — Scott Braswell
St. James — Tommy Norwood — Stephen Cagle
Sumter — Mark Barnes — Drew Marlowe
Timberland — Greg Wright — Brooks Burnette
Union County — Quinnon Isom — Bryan Robinson
Wagener-Salley — Blaze Gillespie — E’Mond Brown
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 12:05 PM.
