Westwood High hires new football coach from Richland 2 rival’s staff
Westwood High has filled its head football coaching vacancy with someone from a rival school.
Ridge View defensive coordinator Robert O’Connell will be the Redhawks’ new coach. O’Connell replaces Matt Quinn, who left to take the head coaching job at North Augusta. O’Connell is the fourth coach in school history.
The move was approved at the Richland 2 school board meeting Tuesday, and O’Connell was introduced at the school Wednesday.
O’Connell coached at Ridge View in two different stints, most recently as the school’s defensive coordinator last season. The Blazers reached the third round of the Class 5A playoffs before losing to Spartanburg.
Ridge View plays Westwood each year and will be in Region 4-4A together next season.
“The biggest thing was the familiarity with the school,” O’Connell told The State on Wednesday. “You also are going to have talent to come in and compete year in and year out. The other thing was the vision of the administration and what they wanted. I think it was a good fit from the first time we talked and a good fit moving forward.”
This will be O’Connell’s second head coaching job. He was head coach at Richard Winn Academy, which plays 8-man football, and led the Eagles to an 8-4 mark in 2016.
O’Connell has 11 years of coaching experience. He was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Irmo, defensive coordinator at Wilson High and was defensive quality control coach at Wofford in 2019.
Westwood shared the Region 4-4A championship this past season with Irmo and A.C. Flora. It was the school’s first region title in football. Quinn was named region coach of the year and the school hosted a playoff game for the first time in six years.
The 31-year-old O’Connell said he will spend the next few days meeting with current assistant coaches and will start putting together his staff. His phone has stayed busy with coaches around the Midlands expressing an interest in being part of his staff, he said.
O’Connell said the biggest goal over the next few months will be building a strong relationship with the returning players. He watched games of Westwood from when Ridge View scouted the Redhawks last year and started watching other games on Hudl once the move was approved Tuesday night.
“I’m really excited about what is coming back, and we are going to have a chance to compete,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell’s hire is the second big one in the athletic department over the past few weeks. Great Falls athletic director Garrett Knight was named the new Redhawks AD last month. He replaces Jason Powell, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Knight was at Great Falls since 2019. Before that, he was assistant football coach and head basketball coach at Lugoff-Elgin.
With Westwood’s search over, that means all seven of the Midlands high school football job openings this offseason have been filled.
SC high school football coaching changes
Midlands-area schools in bold.
School — Former Coach — New Coach
AC Flora — Dustin Curtis — Ken Floyd
Airport — Kirk Burnett — Andre Cook
Bamberg-Ehrhardt — Robert Williams — Corey Crosby
Batesburg-Leesville — Gary Adams — Gene Cathcart
Ben Lippen — Stephen Cagle — Bennett Weigle
Bethune Bowman — Glen Darby — Cody McNeal
Blackville-Hilda — Brandon Isaac — TBA
Bluffton — John Houpt— Hayden Gregory
Boiling Springs — Rick Tate — Matt Reel
Dorman — Dave Guttshall — Dustin Curtis
Dreher — Treigh Sullivan — Corey Jenkins
Hemingway — Charlie Richards — Byron Abram
Hilton Head Prep — Dave Adams — Dustin Etheridge
Lamar — Chad Wilkes — TBA
Lewisville — Will Mitchell — Leon Boulware
Newberry — Phil Strickland — Cedrick Jeter
North Augusta — Jim Bob Bryant — Matt Quinn
North Myrtle Beach — Matt Reel — Greg Hill
Oceanside Collegiate — Joe Call — Chad Wilkes
South Pointe — DeVonte Holloman — TBA
Stall — Joe Bessinger — Benjamin Lailson
Strom Thurmond — Antwaun Hillary — Andrew Webb
Travelers Rest — Ray Gould — Michael Lancaster
Westwood — Matt Quinn — Robert O’Connell
Whitmire — Charlie Jenkins — TBA
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 9:33 AM.
