After the Bobcats’ previous football coach/A.D., T.J. Joye, was sworn in to his new job, Stuart Miles takes over those two jobs at the SCISA school.

Miles, who worked as the assistant athletic director during the previous six years, said he is excited about the opportunity.

“I want to carry on what we’ve established here,” Miles said. “We want to continue to strive to achieve excellence in every sport and be also striving to be model student-athletes in and out of sports. Coach Joye has a lot of great things set in place already. I just want to help that last even longer.”

Miles, a former Lake City football star (Class of 2006) who also played two years as an offensive lineman for Coastal Carolina, said the most important thing he learned from Joye was sacrifice.

“He always looks out for the kids and puts them first,” Miles said. “He’s always stressed to do what’s best for the kids. He has that mentality of putting others first, and that’s why he will also do a great job as sheriff.”

The Carolina Academy’s football team finished this past season as a state runner-up. Looking ahead, Miles keeps things optimistic, but also realistic as the Bobcats’ new football coach.

“We’re having a big turnover. We had 11 seniors, and pretty much all of them played or started in some part,” Miles said. “I’m not going to say (the 2021 season) will be a rebuilding year, but it will be a time to get our foundation set again and work hard in the weight room.

"We’ve always been a disciplined program, and we’ll always plan to be a disciplined, hard-nosed football team. That’s what I want us to be.”

It will take a team effort for promoting general athletic excellence at the school – the same as what it took to build The Carolina Academy’s successful football program.

“Coach Joye has always been about a team concept,” Miles said. “He puts everyone before himself, and that’s what I aim to do to keep this as a solid overall athletic program.”