Hartsfield steps down at Salem

Football season is still several months off, but when it finally arrives there will be a new head coach on the Salem sideline. At the March school board meeting RJ Hartsfield turned in his resignation as head football coach.

Hartsfield was a standout player at Salem before taking over as head coach in 2013. In seven seasons as head coach the Lions went 36-36. They finished this past season with a 6-4 record.

Hartsfield said the decision to resign was made due in large part to wanting to take care of his family more. “We just had our daughter Molly and we have had some things with that happen. There is a lot of work that goes into coaching, and it’s a lot of time that you aren’t with your family. We tried to keep our families around as much as we could. But you get to worry about things that aren’t as important as your family and so that was the thing. I wanted to be with them more.”

The decision to step down was not an easy one Hartsfield said. “It was really hard. It was a dream job for me. It was a dream job since I was 12. I’m 34 now and I look at it all and I feel like we are headed in the right direction. We had tremendous support from the athletic department and everybody involved. There is never a time you want to be stingy but I had to make my family the number one priority.”

Football isn’t out of his future though Hartsfield said. He hopes to coach again somewhere down the line. “AT some point I will coach again. I don’t know where or in what capacity. I’m a football coach. It’s what I love to do. I can’t predict the future. I don’t have anything line up or anything like that. It’s just a big time commitment. I had my world kind of upside down. My wife did it all and now I’m needed at home.”

When looking back on the program he’s leaving Hartsfield added he appreciated all the support from the community. “The best part was from the beginning, Salem will buy in to what you’re selling as long as you’re putting the work in. If you’re working hard they will rally behind you. Getting other people to see the same vision for what you have is always great. Whoever the next guy is, and I hope it’s Coach (Blair) Thompson, they are set up for success. The parents here do a lot of great things. 99% of everybody bought into the vision we had for Salem. That’s special. You don’t get that everywhere.”