After the first question was asked in his interview, new defensive line coach Jacob King knew that Andalusia was the right place to be.

“One of the first questions they asked me was where I stood with my faith,” King said. “That had a big impact on me right there.”

On Monday night, the Andalusia City Board of Education approved King’s hire to become a coach and a social science teacher.

King comes to Andalusia after spending last year as the ninth grade offensive line coach at Hewitt-Trussville High School, his alma mater. Additionally, he assisted with the varsity football team’s offensive line and with their off-season work out program.

Once that was finished, King assisted with the HTHS varsity track team until December. HTHS is a Class 6A school near Birmingham.

After graduating from high school, King played football at Huntingdon College, where he was a defensive end for four years.

“I enjoyed the transition a lot more,” King said about switching from offense to defense. “Being an offensive lineman, I knew all of the tricks and tips the coaches would give you. I knew what to expect when I started playing defensive end as far as pass sets and little give-aways, and feet and hand arrangements.”

Other than the importance of faith, King said Andalusia attracted him to the post because of the community’s involvement with the program and the new indoor facilities that are being built at the school.

“The entire community is buying in to what Andalusia is doing, not only from an athletic stand point, but also as a school and their teachers,” he said.

When asked why he likes coaching, King said it’s because of the coaches that he grew up playing for, noting that his father, Jerry, was a coach at one time.

“Other than my father, really the people who have had a large impact on my life have been coaches,” he said. “I want to, as an educator, prove that you can have a great classroom teacher and a great athletic coach at the same time.”

At one time, King said his greatest coach of all time was — as he knew him — coach Hig.

“He was one of the smartest people I know,” King said. “I wanted to be a teacher and coach, and I don’t want to be a football coach and teacher where kids think it’s going to be an easy class.

“I want to motivate kids, and have an impact on their life just as those coaches had an impact on my life,” he said.

Every coach has a different coaching philosophy. King said his is simple. He just wants to motivate the players to be better.

“Of course you need to be a good coach and need to be able to explain things,” he said. “I want to motivate my players just like I would motivate my students in the classroom. You can’t go out there and force a guy to work hard. You can’t force a student to learn in the classroom. You have to be there to encourage them and build them up, but at the same time you have to be there to criticize them and let them know they can do better than this.”

King is engaged to be married. His fiance´ is Britni Northington.