All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
Woodberry Forest Announces New Head Football Coach
Scott Braswell, a highly experienced coach with a record of success and a history of good sportsmanship and character development, is the new head football coach at Woodberry Forest School.
"I am very excited about Coach Braswell coming to Woodberry Forest to join our school community and lead our football program,” said Headmaster Byron Hulsey ’86. “I learned throughout the search that first and foremost Coach Braswell is a man of humility and character, respected and admired by his players, their parents, opposing coaches, and referees. His record of excellence on the field speaks for itself, but his commitment to the whole mission of what we do at Woodberry is what struck me the most as I got to know him through the search."
Mr. Braswell comes to Woodberry from Hoggard High School in Wilmington, N.C., where he was head football coach from 1997 to 2014 and athletic director from 2008 to 2016. As Hoggard’s coach he went 167-51, winning a state championship in 2007 and 12 conference titles. After his coaching tenure concluded, the high school’s stadium was renamed in his honor.
He was head football coach at Olympic High School in Charlotte from 1990 to 1994 and served as an assistant coach at West Charlotte High School on two occasions. West Charlotte won a state championship while Mr. Braswell was the defensive coordinator.
Mr. Braswell has twice served on the board of the North Carolina Football Coaches Association. As a head coach, he has been honored with several coach-of-the-year awards.
“I am excited to be a part of the role the football program will have in the development and growth of your sons — what an awesome responsibility and opportunity!” he said in a letter to Woodberry parents. “I am incredibly humbled to be joining an education community where the traditions of intellectual thoroughness and moral integrity stretch back over one hundred years.”
Mr. Braswell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history, including a teacher certification in social studies, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He also earned a master’s degree in education from UNC Charlotte.
“Scott brings a great deal of enthusiasm and experience to Woodberry. As a teacher, administrator, and highly successful coach for over 30 years, he fully understands and is committed to the role athletics play in supporting a boy’s holistic learning experience,” said Matt Blundin, Woodberry’s athletic director. “Scott has experienced great success as a coach, but more importantly has demonstrated integrity and strong character in the highs and lows of his career. I met many wonderful candidates during this selection process. I am honored that Scott Braswell has chosen to join our community to share his passion for coaching and learning alongside our coaches and boys.”
His wife, Rita, is also an educator. Their oldest son, Scotty, is following in his dad’s footsteps and coaching at a small college in Naples, Florida. Their younger son, Matthew, is in his third year of medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and doing his rotations in Wilmington, the Braswell’s home town.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.