Huntsville head coach Rodney Southern announced his retirement on Tuesday morning. 

The shocking announcement was first reported by Colton Foster of the Huntsville Item. Southern appears headed to take a position in college football, which has yet to be announced. 

“I’ve been thinking about it since the season ended and I was told a long time ago, when you start thinking about retirement, you’ve already made the decision," Southern told Dave Campbell's Texas Football. "Once I made the final decision I wanted to get the word to my superintendent so they could get the process going as quickly as possible."

He retires after 23 total seasons as a head coach at Marshall, Belton and at Huntsville where he has a career record of 151-108. He began his head coaching career at Marshall in 2002 where he went 1-9 in his first season before rebuilding the Mavericks into a state power that included back-to-back state championship games in 2004 and 2005. 

Southern headed to Central Texas in 2007 where he took over at Belton High. After going 5-15 in his first two seasons, Southern led Belton to a 10-2 mark in 2009 and two other playoff appearances in 2010 and 2011. 

In 2014, Southern took the reins at Huntsville and helped build the Hornets into a power in Region III. Huntsville posted a 12-2 mark in 2018 falling in the 5A-Division II final in a heartbreaking loss to Fort Bend Marshall. That was followed up with regional semifinal appearances in 2019 and 2020. Huntsville returned to the regional finals in 2023 where it fell to eventual state champion Port Neches-Groves. 

Southern leaves a strong legacy at Huntsville. In 2023, Huntsville ISD opened their own stadium after decades of playing at Bowers Stadium at Sam Houston State University. 

“I’m proud that we were able to build something in every place we took over at programs that weren’t in great shape and were able to turn them around," he said. "Coaching as long as I have, you build relationships with kids and they become adults and come back as successful people and that is incredibly rewarding.” 

Huntsville brings back a lot of talent from a team that posted an 8-4 record a year ago. Expect plent of statewide interest if HISD opens the job up.