COAL CITY, W.Va. — Mark Montgomery has been named as the new head football coach at Independence.
Montgomery takes over for Chris Vicars who stepped down earlier this year to accept an assistant principal position at Summers County Middle School.
Independence is coming off of an 8-3 season where the Patriots were the No. 9 seed in the playoffs, falling to No. 8 Lincoln in the opening round. Vicars was 23-19 with the Patriots in four seasons, including playoff berths in 2015 and 2016.
Montgomery, meanwhile, most recently served as offensive coordinator on Wes Eddy’s staff at Princeton this past season. Early in his career, he spent eight seasons combined as head coach at Clear Fork and Marsh Fork high schools, and later served as an assistant at Concord from 1994 to 2002. He also coached the Independence Middle School football team from 2004 to 2011.
Independence opens up the 2017 season on the road at Midland Trail.