During Monday’s Dallas County School Board meeting, the new leader of the Southside High School Panthers was officially named.

Daniel Flowers was officially tabbed as the new head football coach of Southside High School, taking over after coach Bertrum Crum served only one season.

Flowers will also fill a physical education instructor position at Southside.

Flowers said football is in his blood.

“Football is my heart,” Flowers said. “My father played football, my grandfather, my brothers played football, so we’re a pretty big football family.”

Flowers played his high school football at Northview High School in Dothan and played college football at Alabama State University.

He served as an assistant at Alabama State, Northview, Demopolis High School, and served as head football and baseball coach at Demopolis Middle School where he turned around both programs.

Flowers said he was contacted by Southside principal Clarence Jackson — who had previously hired him in Demopolis — about the coaching position, and he jumped at the opportunity.

“Mr. Jackson called me about a few weeks ago and said they might be looking for a head football coach and asked me was I interested,” Flowers said. “He hired me at Demopolis … now he gave me an opportunity to be a head coach at the high school level. That’s a dream come true — I couldn’t turn that down.”

Flowers said he’s wanted the opportunity to build a program up, and he’ll have the chance to do just that at Southside, as the Panthers finished 1-9 last season.

“I always told myself I wanted to go to a place where it was down a little bit, so I can build it up because that’s what I did at Demopolis,” Flowers said. “When people say it can’t be done, I believe it can be done through hard work and sacrifice.”

Flowers added it’s going to take dedication and getting the community involved in order to help build the program, and he believes he serves as a role model for the players.

“We have to get out here and get our product out there and show our kids that we care about them,” Flowers said. “The only thing these kids need is for somebody to push them.”

Flowers also thanked Jackson, William Minor and Don Willingham of the school board for the opportunity, and said he thanks his father for making him the man he is today.