Northside football coach steps down

Northside football coach Nathan Laney has decided to resign after two seasons as the head coach.

Laney said his family played a role in deciding to step down.

"I got a little a boy that we are expecting on July 4," Laney said. "I also got a 3-year-old (Ellison) at home. I didn't do a real good job balancing football and everything else. I didn’t feel that I was able to effectively be a dad and a coach."

Laney expects to be an assistant coach with the Patriots next fall. He plans to continue coaching the offensive line, which he coached before he was promoted to head coach when Dwight Jones left for McIntosh after the 2005 season.

Laney wasn’t able to match the success that the Patriots had in 2005 when they went 9-3 and advanced to the Class AAA second round. He went 3-7 in his first season before going 0-10 in 2007.

Northside principal James Wilson doesn’t have a timetable for finding Laney’s successor, but “would like to move quickly.”