Harding High football coach Sam Greiner resigns. Source says he’s headed for another area school

Harding High football coach Sam Greiner, who led the Rams to an improbable state championship in December, is expected to be named head football coach at Harrisburg’s Hickory Ridge High School next week, a source told the Observer.

The Cabarrus County School is scheduled to meet March 12.

Contacted by the Observer, Greiner would only say he had resigned his position as a teacher at Harding High on Monday and would begin as a teacher at Hickory Ridge this week. The source said Greiner’s approval would not be problematic, which is why the coach was switching schools now.

Hickory Ridge coach Jason Seidel resigned after leading the team to 12-3 and 11-3 records in two seasons. Hickory Ridge, which has had four straight winning seasons, lost to Vance in the third round of the 4A playoffs last year. Seidel has taken the head job at Blythewood (SC) High.

Hickory Ridge plays in the Southwestern 4A, which counts six Mecklenburg County teams among its eight members.

Greiner coached at Harding for three seasons. He was 1-10 the first year, then 5-7 and finally 14-1 in the 2017 season, which resulted in Harding’s first state championship since 1953. At Harding, he leaves behind several Division I recruits including 6-foot-3, 230-pound junior Quavaris Crouch, the nation’s top recruit, regardless of position, in the 2019 class. Crouch was the Charlotte Observer offensive player of the year last season.

This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Harding High football coach Sam Greiner resigns. Source says he’s headed for another area school."