Jeptha "Jep" Irwin is the new head football coach at Lassiter High School.

For the second time in as many hires by Trojans' principal Chris Shaw, he went to Alabama to find his man, and he used a similar blueprint.

Two years ago, when Shaw hired former coach Chip Lindsey, he went to a successful program in a suburb of Birmingham, Hoover, and hired a former head coach that at the time was an offensive coordinator running the spread offense. Everything is the same this time around - except the school.

Shaw had to travel 5 miles farther south of Birmingham to Pelham High School to find Irwin.

"I feel fortunate," Irwin said Monday night. "Lassiter is in a great area and a great community. It's a great academic school known as much for its fine arts as it is its sports. It's a great job and I knew it was going to take a tremendous opportunity for me to leave my job here (in Pelham)."

Irwin has been at Pelham the last four years. Three times in those four seasons the Panthers made the Class 6A playoffs, the highest classification in Alabama. Pelham's best season during his stay was 2006 when the Panthers advanced to the state quarterfinals. The 2009 season wasn't as successful for Pelham as it went 3-8 - in the same region as Alabama state powers Hoover, Spain Park and Vestavia Hills - however, the Panthers still won a five-way tie-breaker to earn the region's last playoff seed.

Previously, Irwin spent four years as head coach at South Laurel High School in London, Ky. He led the Class 4A school, Kentucky's highest classification, to three consecutive playoff appearances, including going 9-3 his last year there in 2005.

In each coaching stop, Irwin ran a similar spread offense that Lindsey ran during his two years at Lassiter, something Shaw said was paramount to find when he started the new coaching search.

"The offensive system that Coach Lindsey ran at Lassiter is unique. There are only four or five high school coaches that know this particular offense and Coach Irwin is one of those guys," Shaw said in a release on Monday. "We had some impressive applications that included coaches with winning several state championships. (But) my main objective was to find the right coach with the right fit."

Efforts to contact Shaw for further comments were unsuccessful.

Both Irwin and Lindsey are disciples of the offensive system designed by current Louisiana Tech offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, and after working at high schools in the same region in Alabama, it's no coincidence that the two coaches know each other. In fact, Lindsey suggested to Irwin he may want to apply for the Trojans' job.

"I've been friends with Coach Lindsey, Rush Propst (current Colquitt County head coach and former Hoover head coach) and Tony Franklin," Irwin said. "Coach Lindsey told me about the job and the more he talked to me about it, the more interested I got."

Lindsey, the new quarterback coach at Troy University, was happy to hear Irwin was hired.

"He's a great guy," Lindsey said. "He's a really good coach and he will keep the continuity there. I think it's a good hire. Mr. Shaw made a good choice."

Irwin said he will be on campus Friday to have his first team meeting with the players and sit down conversations with the assistant coaches.

After that, Irwin's only remaining challenge standing between him and the ability to start his new job full time is to be released from his current teaching contract in Pelham. Irwin, who teaches AP History, said he has started the paperwork for his release and hopes to be able to be at Lassiter within the next few weeks.