Adkins leaves Sacred Heart after one season as football coach

Gary Adkins has departed Sacred Heart High School after one season.
The 33-year coaching veteran left his position as head football coach at the Catholic school in Ville Platte after officially accepting the offer to become the new head coach and athletic director at Abbeville High.
“Whenever I first saw the job being posted it just hit home for me,” Adkins said. “Abbeville is very similar to other places that I have coached like Port Allen, St. Martinville, Donaldsonville. All of those programs were down when we got there and we were able to build them up. That really drew me to it.”
Adkins, who played high school football at Haynesville High for legendary coach Alton “Red’ Franklin, has accumulated 141 victories in 26 seasons as a head coach.
This past year, Adkins guided the Trojans to a 5-5 overall record but missed the playoffs.
“We ended up 5-5 and we were couple plays away from 7-3 which will haunt me forever,” Adkins said. “We were better than what our record showed. The kids did a great job with a new coaching staff coming in.”
The fact that the kids did buy in made the decision to leave that much more difficult for Adkins.
“Leaving Sacred Heart is tough,” Adkins said. “We went through a lot this year at the school. It is a deal where you fall in love with the place. It is a great school, I mean a great school. They have a great opportunity to move forward now, but unfortunately I won’t be involved.”
No word yet on who will replace Adkins as head coach or if and when a coaching search will be performed. Sacred Heart is scheduled to open the season on Sept. 4 at Iota.