SMITHFIELD-Como, N.C., resident Tyris Hill has been named the new head football coach at Smithfield High School.

Hill replaces Chris Fraser, who is the new head coach for Charlottesville High School. The Packers were 23-7 under Fraser the past three seasons.

Hill, who played quarterback in high school in Birmingham, Ala., and at Virginia State University, was an assistant coach for 10 years at Southampton High School. He was also the head football coach at Greensville County High School for four years beginning in 1999. He was a Region 1 Coach of the Year while at Greensville.

Most recently, he was the head coach at Northwest Halifax High School in Littleton, N.C., before sitting out a year.

&uot;I wanted to get back into coaching again, and this is the perfect situation,&uot; Hill said. &uot;I wanted to get back into a situation where I could do some administrative things and coach.&uot;

Hill will have a chance to coach against his former head coach for one season. Hill was an assistant under Littleton Parker at Southampton. The Packers and Indians will do battle one more year in the Bay Rivers District before Southampton moves to the Southside District in 2009.

&uot;He’s a classy guy,&uot; Hill said about Parker. &uot;Coach Parker’s teams are always well-coached. I think it will be good for this one year.&uot;

As for the rest of the Bay Rivers District, Hill knows the competition is steep every year. Hill said he will have a young team and will need to figure out how to replace running back Dyrell Roberts, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards in 2007 and is headed for Virginia Tech this fall.

&uot;It’s always been one of the toughest AA conferences in the state. I won’t be going into it blind having coached at Southampton,&uot; he said. &uot;I kind of know the landscape. They are good from top to bottom. You’ve really gotta play well and practice well. You’ve got to be on your game.&uot;

Hill graduated from Virginia State University with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. He later completed a master’s degree in education administration and supervision at Cambridge College.