By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The high school football coaching carousel between Alamance County and Orange has another chapter.
Former Orange coach Devante Pettiford is the new defensive coordinator at Western Alamance.
He departed as the Orange head coach in April.
“It was time to go a new direction and a new chapter in life,” Pettiford said.
A few weeks later, that led him to Western.
Pettiford takes a coordinator spot that had been held by Western alum Ty Parker, who has shifted to Southeast Alamance as inside linebackers coach.
“It has been an interesting winter and spring,” Western coach Jeff Snuffer said of staff movements.
Earlier this month, former Southern Ala-mance coach Fritz Hessenthaler was named Orange’s head coach, filling the vacancy created by Pettiford’s departure. His staff includes ex-Cummings coach David Grimm, who was fired in late May, and several now-former Southern assistant coaches.
Pettiford, 32, was on board at Western during May’s spring practice period, though he was still at Orange during school days.
Pettiford, a 2011 Orange graduate, said Hessenthaler’s hiring should be good for Orange.
“They ended up in a good situation,” he said.
Pettiford won’t need an introduction to the new conference set-up with the Alamance County schools plus Roxboro Person in the same league. Orange is no longer aligned with Alamance County schools.
“A lot of us all knew each other,” he said. “We’re familiar with everybody.”
Pettiford will teach exceptional children at Western.
Newcomers to West-ern’s staff also include former Warriors players Donald Britt (receivers coach) and Rod Shaw (linebackers coach).
Meanwhile, assistant coach Chris Crain has moved from Western to Southeast.
