Bishop England football scores a new head coach

Logan Hall knows the Bishop England High School football team has struggled in recent years, failing to score points and win games.

 

Hall also knows the program will be challenged for at least the next couple of years, forced to compete at the Class AAAA level despite having a Class AA enrollment thanks to a multiplier used by the SOHigh School League to level the playing field against teams that are perceived to have an unfair advantage.

 

Still, when the Bishop England head football coaching job became available, Hall wasted little time applying for the job, selling himself as the man to take the program to the next level.

 

So, when BE offered the 33-year-old Pinewood Prep offensive coordinator the job on Feb. 26, Hall said yes.

 

“Awesome. It is an awesome opportunity and an awesome job,” Hall said. “I am honored and extremely excited to be named the head football coach at Bishop England. I am looking forward to building a solid foundation and creating a winning culture that the players, students, fans, faculty, administration, and alumni can be proud of.”

 

Hall, who played quarterback at Laurens High School and graduated from the school in 2009, says every step of his coaching journey has been a building block and a natural progression to landing his first head coaching assignment.

 

He originally signed to play football at Coastal Carolina but ended up at the University of South Carolina where he graduated. He served in various coaching roles under USC legend Steve Spurrier and Will Muschamp.

 

Hall also served as an assistant coach for the Battery Creek High School team and followed that up with a year’s stint as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Limestone College before landing the offensive coordinator job at Pinewood Prep.

 

“All that I have done, all that I have accomplished has prepared me for this opportunity to be a head coach,” Hall said.

 

Hall and his wife Molly have two children and live in Mount Pleasant. 

 

He replaces John Cantey, one of BE’s most successful coaches. The 49-year-old Cantey resigned as coach in December to spend more time with his family.

 

Cantey coached high school football for 27 years, including 26 at BE. He was the Bishops’ head coach for 16 years and became the first football coach in school history to win a state championship. The 2011 team went 13-1 and won the Class AA state title with a victory over Central. The Bishops repeated as state champs in ’12 with another 13-1 record that culminated with a shutout win over Abbeville.

 

The team went 9-3 in 2013, but started to slide after injuries to quarterbacks and other key personnel decimated the roster depth.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help matters much, either. The Bishops were 4-3 in the shortened 2020 season and won only seven out of 32 games the past three seasons.

 

Cantey recorded 98 career victories at Bishop England and won five region championships. His teams compiled a 25-game conference winning streak.