Meet New Hanover’s Earl Smith, back for another run with the Wildcats

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Kevin Motsinger served as the head coach of New Hanover for nine years. He clearly left his mark. Earl Smith knows what it’s like to leave New Hanover, too, but now he’s back as the Wildcats head coach.

“Coach Motsinger did a wonderful job here for nine years,” Smith said. “That’s made my job easy coming in. It’s been great. We’ve had a large group of players, 120 came out. We’ve got about 27 seniors.”

Smith says he’s proud of the way the Wildcats have adjusted to the coaching change, and he feels like the team is making progress. Darrell Raynor remains the offensive coordinator.

“That is one of the things I didn’t want to change,” Smith said. “Defensively, it’s a little different story. I brought in a new defensive coordinator, Tim Smith. I ran the defense until he got here a few weeks ago.”

New Hanover will be young on defense, but that’s not the case on the offensive side of the ball.

“The offensive line is all coming back. They’re seniors. A good group of guys,” Smith said. “That’s the nucleus of the team and of course you throw in Burke and Garrett and the skill players.”

The Earl Smith era at New Hanover is back. Just like he’s done in the past, he’s a stickler for doing the little things right, and he sets the bar high as well.

“Our goals will always be a conference championship and a state championship, and that’s just the way it is,” Smith said.

New Hanover finished with a 7-5 record in 2014. This includes a 47-35 first round loss to Greenville Rose in the state playoffs.