Former Florala head basketball coach Brad Garner has been hired as a science teacher at Andalusia High School.

For the last seven years, Garner served as the head basketball and assistant football coach at FHS.

Garner said his decision to leave FHS was “pretty straight forward.”

“It just boiled down to a decision that was best for me and my family,” he said. Garner’s wife, Becky, teaches English at AMS, and his two kids, Peyton and Emory, are enrolled in the Andalusia City School system at AMS and AES, respectively.

Garner — who is vacationing in North Carolina — said by telephone that he told his players the news Thursday.

“I called Florala this morning, and got on a speaker phone and talked to my players,” he said. “That was as close to being in person with me out of town.”

At Wednesday night’s ACS board meeting, Garner was approved by the board to fill the science teacher position.

“I wish the best for those kids at Florala,” Garner said about the basketball team. “They’ll be fine. They’re going to work hard. Whoever is going to take over is going to do a great job, and he’ll have some great kids.”

AHS head football coach Brian Seymore said there is a possibility Garner will help as an assistant coach on the football team.

“I hope to have him help with football,” Seymore said. “I talked with him, and he’s a good man.

“He’d be a good addition,” he said. “We welcome him aboard. Any extra coach can help a football team — a program. He’d definitely be an asset for us.”