Jonathan Miller has been hired to replace Piedmont legend Steve Smith as the Bulldogs’ new head football coach.

Miller met with both teams today and the move was announced on the school’s Twitter account.

“Piedmont High School welcomes Coach Jonathan Miller as the new head football coach and athletic director,” the tweet said. “Coach Miller is a veteran coach who has had a successful career as a head football coach and basketball coach. He is familiar with the operations of Piedmont athletics and has a good plan to take us forward to conquer and prevail.”

“I’ve been at Saks for 22 years,” said Miller, an Alexandria High graduate, “and it felt like time to do something different. I’ve been in situations where I thought about going other places, but I never really considered it until this came open. It’s an opportunity to stay close to home and coach at a school that’s one of the top jobs in the state when you take everything into account.

“It’s partly being ready to experience something different. Piedmont is not the type job that’s going to come open very often.”

Piedmont has won five state titles and finished second twice, all with Smith at the helm. Smith compiled a 198-36 record at Piedmont in 17 years. His career mark is 283-81 with 11 years as head coach at Cedar Bluff. Smith, who will retire from public school teaching at the end of this semester, has taken over as head football coach and athletic director at Westbrook Christian in Rainbow City.

Smith’s final team at Piedmont finished 12-3 with a loss in the 3A state title game to St. James.

“No doubt it will be tough to follow coach Smith,” Miller said, “but I’ve been doing this long enough to be able to handle stuff like that. It’s never easy to follow a guy who won five state championships and has been there 17 years. Luckily, I have experience as a head coach that will help me handle any situation that arises.

“It’s a good thing that it’s not a rebuilding situation. It’s a situation where I have to keep the train on the tracks.”

Miller worked for 11 years as an assistant at Saks, working for three years for Joe Thornton and eight for Clint Smith, who went to Jacksonville in 2012. Miller has compiled a 100-32 record in his 11 years as head coach.

“It was tough talking to my team at Saks. That’s been the worst part of my day, to be honest,” Miller said Monday afternoon. “You invest a lot of time with these guys and they become like a second family to you. It’s tough. I’ve been fortunate that it’s not something I’ve had to do.

“Not only did I think about the team that was sitting in front of me, but I thought back about all the kids I’d coached at Saks through the years. It brought back a lot of good memories. The last time I’d be addressing them at Saks was tough, though.”

Miller led the Wildcats to the state playoff semifinals three times – in 2021 and in 2013 in Class 3A and in 2017 as a 4A program.

“I did get a chance to talk to the kids at Piedmont later in the day,” Miller said. “I thought that went well. They were receptive and seemed like a good bunch of kids. It made the ending of the day better.”

Miller starts at Piedmont on April 3.