ALEXANDRIA — Former Vidalia head football coach and softball coach Gary Paul Parnham has accepted an offensive line coaching position and head softball position with Alexandria Senior High.

Parnham, who resigned as the Vidalia High School head softball coach two weeks ago, said he was searching for a new job towards the end of the school year when he saw ASH head coach Sam Goodwin was looking for assistant coaches. Parnham and Goodwin go way back.

“He recruited me when I was in high school to come to Northwestern and I turned him down to go to Louisiana Tech,” Parnham said. “He’s been joking with the boys about that when he introduced me, but I’ve always had a great respect for him.”

Parnham interviewed for the football job, and while he was there, he noticed ASH had a vacant softball position available. Parnham quickly followed up with another interview, and he couldn’t be more thrilled about the opportunity.

“I’m inheriting a team that made it to the state tournament last year, and they were all young,” Parnham said. “They had one senior, and most of them were freshmen.”

Vidalia High School principal Rick Brown said he hopes to find a new softball head coach before school starts.