8 hours Ago
After three seasons at the collegiate level, former Liberty High football coach Chris Watts is returning to the Seminole District and plans to serve as an assistant at Heritage High in the fall. Watts has been hired as a biology teacher at Heritage and will join Brad Bradley's staff in a yet-to-be defined role for the 2025 season. One of those roles could be as helping with safeties, Bradley said Thursday.
Watts coached safeties for the last three years at North Carolina-based Davidson College, in addition to his recruiting duties. The development revives Watts' 35-year high school coaching career. He resigned as Liberty head coach after 21 years in the summer of 2022 and joined Scott Abell's staff at Davidson (Abell previously coached at Liberty High and Amherst County).
Abell was named new Rice University coach in late November. Rather than follow Abell to Houston, Texas, Watts chose a return to Central Virginia, to be close to his children and grandchildren. Watts recently spoke with Bradley, who had an open position on his staff.
Heritage also had a need for a licensed science teacher. Watts said he will begin his duties at Heritage next week. "This transition happened really fast," he said.
"My wife and I had contemplated this type of move, just with some patience." Watts compiled a 122-101 record at Liberty. During his time there, Liberty won five Seminole District titles, two region championships and one state title (2002).
"I hope that the players and coaches and administrators knew that I had the best interests of the school and the kids at heart," he said as he departed the school in June of 2022. "It wasn't about me. It was about trying to build better men through the game of football.
" Now he'll team up with Bradley, a friend and former gridiron foe. Bradley brought William Campbell a state title the same year as Watts won one at Liberty, and the two coached against one another in the Seminole District for 10 seasons. "When I had a chance to get a guy that has 35 years of coaching experience, I had to take it," Bradley said.
"He's an unbelievable coach, but he's more of an unbelievable person. It'll be awesome to have him on staff as another guy I can talk to and run things by. "Here's the greatest thing about Chris: there's no ego with Chris.
He's great with the kids, he knows football and will be unbelievable with our kids and our staff." Watts will join a Heritage staff that includes 13 individuals, including longtime Bradley assistant John Earich (co-offensive coordinator), Jerrett Martin and Dayn Washburn as co-defensive coordinators, and Ben Alexander as safeties, wide receivers and special teams coach. Watts may help Alexander in the safeties role and could take on additional duties.
"It's too early to tell right now," Bradley said. "He'll have a position as an assistant varsity coach helping out on both sides of the ball." In his years at Davidson — where he recruited first in Virginia and then throughout West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio — Watts kept up with high school football, particularly in the Seminole, where for years he had tenure among coaches in the eight-team district.
Watts left Liberty in the months leading up to the 2022 season. His teams for years excelled under the Maryland I, or Stack I offense, reeling off victory after victory. But enrollment began to decline in the late 2010s, and LHS won just five games in Watts final three years there.
The school hasn't won since, and its losing streak stands at 37 straight games. After his departure, Liberty moved down from the Virginia High School League's Class 3 to Class 2 for all athletics and hired as its new football coach Daryl Robertson, who became the first Black head football coach in the district's history. Bradley and Watts had known each other since the early 2000s, but their friendship grew after Bradley took the Heritage job in 2012.
They talked one night over game film "and the next thing you know," Watts recalled, "we're talking every Friday night. We've gone against each other a lot and also worked together a lot." They plan to work more closely in the future.
Watts, now in his early 60s, wants to coach as long as possible. "I still have that desire to be coaching in one capacity or another," he said. "I can't see myself retiring at any point unless I have to.
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