Bobby Bentley, who won 4 high school state titles in South Carolina, hired as BGA football coach

Nashville Tennessean

Battle Ground Academy made the biggest coaching splash of the Tennessee high school football offseason on Monday.

Central Florida lead analyst Bobby Bentley, who won four straight South Carolina high school state titles at James F. Byrnes from 2002-05, has been named coach of the Wildcats after a nationwide search. He replaces Jonas Rodriguez, who resigned after five seasons.

Bentley helped build James F. Byrnes into a high school football national powerhouse in the early 2000s.

Bentley, 55, takes over a program that went 5-6 in 2023 with a TSSAA Division II-AA first-round playoff loss to Lausanne. That came a season after going 1-9.

"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Bentley to BGA," BGA headmaster Will Kesler said in a school release. "His proven track record of growing and sustaining excellence at the high school level and his knowledge and understanding of collegiate football at the highest level make him an ideal leader for our football team.

"Throughout our search process, he demonstrated both a passion and a plan for ensuring that our program will have an incredibly positive impact on the lives of student-athletes in high school and beyond. We are delighted to welcome Bobby and (his wife) Paulette, as well as their entire family, to the BGA community."

Bentley has spent much of the past 10 years coaching in college, spending time as an analyst at Auburn, and then as an assistant at South Carolina and South Florida and spent the 2023 season as an analyst at Central Florida with coach Gus Malzahn, who he worked for at Auburn as an offensive analyst in 2014 and 2015.

Bentley coached at Byrnes from 1995-2006. There he went 119-54 and won four straight SCHSL championships from 2002-05. He was named Nike's national coach of the year in 2005.

"It is an honor for me to be named head football coach at Battle Ground Academy,” Bentley said in a release. "Our goal is to develop a program that all involved can be proud of and truly develops young men on and off the field. I am beyond excited to get to work and make an impact with the team.”

He left Byrnes after the 2006 season to coach at Presbyterian College, his alma mater, for two seasons going 10-13 before returning to coach at Byrnes for a year. Then he returned to the college game where he's remained until now.

"Coach Bentley’s remarkable coaching background, unwavering dedication to excellence, and his commitment to fostering the overall growth of our student-athletes make him the ideal leader for our football program,” said Fred Eaves, BGA’s assistant head of school for operations and co-curricular programs.

“His coaching journey has been marked by achievements at every level. We believe his vision, coupled with his proven ability to inspire and mentor student-athletes, will propel our football program to new heights."

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Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @Kreager.