Longtime Manchester High football coach and Virginia Tech alumnus Tom Hall, one of the winningest VHSL coaches in Central Virginia with 193 career victories, has a particular affinity for “one-school town” programs.
So even before Hall in December stepped down after 25 years leading the Lancers, the wheels were already turning upon the path which would lead him to his next destination.
Hall on Tuesday confirmed that he will be the next head coach at Prince George.
Former Royals coach Scott Girolmo took the post in November of 2020, and went 5-25 in three seasons at the helm before stepping down this offseason.
“Every coach, whatever sport you coach it doesn’t matter, you’re going to come to a crossroads where it’s either time to give it up, hang your whistle up forever, or it’s time for a change,” Hall said, adding that he made the decision last summer while on vacation with his family that the 2023 season would be his last at Manchester.
“I knew it was time for a change.”
Hall jokingly stressed that, when he stepped down, he never used the word “retire.” He had a strong conviction all along that the 2023 Lancers team was a poignant group with which to conclude his Manchester tenure. But he also hoped to return to the sidelines elsewhere before long.
Back in 2017, Hall spoke with current Royals director of athletics Bruce Carroll at the Big River Rivalry game.
He joked with Carroll, who served as Prince George head coach for 11 seasons before transitioning to AD, that in a few years, he’d come down to coach with him.
“I’ve always been enamored with one-school town football,” Hall said. “There’s something special about it, something different.”
Hall met with Girolmo not long ago, and tentatively planned to join his staff. He didn’t want to be a distraction to new Lancers coach Jason Harrell, previously Hall’s defensive coordinator.
Rather, he felt a need to chart a new path at a program that would present a fresh challenge.
Then Girolmo resigned, and the path ahead was clear.
“They always say ‘Everything is done for a reason,’” Hall said. “I cannot tell you how excited I am. I love the whole process.”
When Hall was an assistant coach earlier in his career, his teams competed against rural high schools such as Sussex Central, Bath County, Madison County and Powhatan County.
It was then that he began to fall in love with the purity of “one-school town” football programs.
“You just see, there’s a different level of intimacy between community and school,” Hall said.
“I think the coaches at the single-A level are probably the best coaches in the state. Because you have to coach the 30 or 35 kids that you have come out.
“You’re not going to have five-star kids that are on everyone’s watch list. You’re coaching kids that — the game of football is still pure, it still means something. Sometimes, when you get into a big area, people lose sight of what we do. We’re coaching kids to teach them about life, to teach them about the great game that we love.”
As of 2022, Prince George County’s population was reported at 43,134. The Royals play in Region 5C, and the VHSL website reports their enrollment at 1,333.
So though the school is technically in Metro Richmond, compared to other programs in Central Virginia, it certainly fits Hall’s affinity for “one-school town” programs.
Hall is in the process of putting together his staff and said fans can expect to see “some familiar faces that have been with me in the past.”
His Royals staff will include some his own previous assistants and some that have already worked at the school under Girolmo.
In the immediate future, Hall will be hanging out in the community, meeting local kids, putting them through workouts and ingratiating himself in the communal fabric surrounding the program.
Prince George’s last winning season was its final under Carroll, a 5-2 campaign in the pandemic-altered spring 2021 slate. Before that, the Royals went 7-4 and made the playoffs in 2019, the first time since 1998 that the program produced more than five victories in a season.
“Changing the culture, changing the way we approach things ... my family, we’re all super excited for the challenge, and to go through the process,” Hall said.
“It’s been overwhelming how things have aligned. I’m very humbled and excited. I want to give the community of Prince George a program they can be proud of.”
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