Two months shy of his 61st birthday, Chip Seagle had basically given up on his desire to become a high school head football coach.

Then Clifford Story called.

He was looking for someone to fill his shoes as head coach at Lanett High.

“It’s a dream job,” Seagle said. “As a matter of fact, I turned down a head coaching job in Georgia last year and thought I was done with that part of my life. But this is Lanett. I don’t want to compare myself to coach (Bear) Bryant, but it is like mama called me home. When that happens, you come running.

“This is a special place to me. I don’t think I would have taken any other head coaching job. That is how much this job means to me.”

Story announced late Monday that Seagle would follow him as head coach of the Panthers. Story stepped down in May after 14 years and a pair of state titles, though he remains the school’s athletic director.

Seagle, a Troy graduate, spent 11 years on Story’s staff at Lanett before leaving following the 2019 season. He spent the last three seasons at three different Georgia high schools.

“Every coach has a dream job,” he said. “This will be my 39th year on the field and my first varsity head coaching job. It’s not my first opportunity, but it is my first job. I am not going to throw away my shot.”

Seagle has also had assistant coaching stints at Dothan, Smiths Station, Carroll and Muscle Shoals high schools in Alabama as well as Manchester, Greenville and Heritage in Georgia. He said it’s hard to describe just what makes Lanett different.

“It’s something that you know when you see it and feel it,” he said. “It’s different the way the community supports the school. It gets in you and becomes a part of you. We have coaches who have left and want to come back because of that. It gets under the skin in a good way. My wife says Lanett is a precious place, and it really is.”

Seagle and wife Tammy live in Pine Mountain, Ga., about 20 minutes away from Lanett. They have six children and three grandchildren. At Lanett, he inherits a team that won 114 games under Story.

“It’s really cool to come back here and follow him because I was here with him, and I saw how he built the house,” Seagle said. “I was there, standing beside him and handing him the hammer or the saw or the nails as we built this house. I don’t normally use external motivation. I motivate myself internally.

“But clearly there is motivation to live up to the trust he has put in me. This is his baby. For him to give it to me is very humbling. It’s a great honor. He is a living legend. He will be in the state hall of fame. If he isn’t, they need to close that sucker down. This entire community is different because of Clifford Story Jr. I’m his biggest fan and have been for many years.

After six straight double-digit win seasons, Lanett went 5-6 in 2022. The Panthers lost in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs to B.B. Comer. Seagle said he doesn’t know many of the current players as the rising seniors were eighth-graders when he was last at the school, but he is excited to get started.

“I love this place,” he said. “I’m back in my element. I called my wife this morning and told her I was fighting back the urge to cry. It’s unreal that I’m at this place. So many people never get to live their dream and now I am.”

This post will be updated