Hopewell High taps former Mallard Creek assistant as new head football coach
Hopewell High didn’t take long to find its next head football coach.
About a month after Jamelle Byrd resigned the position, Titans athletic director Brian Bourque said the school has hired Brandon Gentry to replace him.
Gentry was an assistant at Mallard Creek last season. He got his first head coaching job in 2016, taking over a Northwest Cabarrus team that had gone 4-19 in the two years before he was hired. Gentry was 2-9 in first season at Northwest Cabarrus and 6-6 in his second. His last two teams finished 25-3.
He hopes for a similar turnaround at Hopewell, which was 1-9 last season and has had eight straight losing seasons since finishing 6-6 in 2013 under Matthew Jenkins, now head coach at Hough.
“Coach Gentry is exactly what the football program and school needs at this time,” Bourque said. “He simply checked all the boxes. He is going to bring a new energy, and I cannot wait to get to work and do my part to support coach in growing this program.”
Gentry is a Crest High graduate who played at Appalachian State before transferring to Gardner-Webb and played defensive end.
He has 16 years of high school coaching experience, including being an assistant at West Charlotte, Polk County and Crest, and at S.C. schools TL Hanna and Byrnes. Gentry was also head coach at West Cabarrus High when the school opened in the 2020-21 school year. That team finished 3-4.
“I am honored to be selected as the next head football coach at Hopewell,” Gentry said. “I look forward to working with the administration, athletic department and community to build this program into a first-class program. I am excited about the future of the Titan program.”
