Ellwood Christian’s new head football coach has Selma ties and is confident the Eagles can win big at the class 1A level.

The Ellwood Christian school board voted unanimously Wednesday to name Trey Pike the school’s new coach. Pike previously served as the dean of students at Morgan Academy and was the Senators’ defensive coordinator for a semester before leaving in 2012.

This past season he served as the offensive coordinator at Westgate High School in New Iberia, La.

“I think he will be a good fit for our program and the direction we are trying to go in,” said Ellwood headmaster the Rev. Gary Crum. “From what I can gather from his references, he has great work ethic, which means a lot when you are talking about a football coach.”

Pike is well traveled during his time in athletics. He took his first coaching job at age 24 at Crossville High School in fall of 2012 before accepting the defensive coordinator position at Morgan Academy, where he also served as the Senators’ baseball coach.

“The vision for the program is pretty simple. It’s a place that is going to win games,” Pike said. “They have a great administration there, and that’s always appealing for any program. A young head coach like myself that is wanting to come in and build a name for himself — this is a perfect opportunity to do that.”

Although Pike wasn’t in Selma long before departing, he’s confident in the year in and year out talent that the city produces on the gridiron, and he believes he can use that to build a winning program.

“The way I look at it is it could be a small John Curtis of Louisiana, where you are a small classification school and you are getting some of the best athletes in the area… — why can’t we do that in Selma?” Pike said. “There’s a lot of great talent in Selma, so why can’t we do that there?”

John Curtis has the most state football championships in Louisiana history with 26, so Ellwood’s young program — which just finished its third season in the Alabama High School Athletic Association — has some work to get there.

However, Ellwood did win its first ever playoff game last season and also hosted its first postseason game, so the Eagles have taken steps in the right direction.

Crum said Pike is the right guy to keep the positive momentum going.

“Coach Pike has done his homework on us as well,” Crum said.

“He feels that the foundation is there and with bringing in the right chemistry that he has something he will possibly be able to build upon.”

Pike replaces Eric Martinear, who was arrested Feb. 5 after being charged with performing a sex act with a student and was fired shortly after. Martinear was also hired despite having a previous arrest for receiving stolen property on his record.

“We did a lot of homework this time,” Crum said. “…. That was on the back of everybody’s mind that we did our due diligence.”