VALDOSTA — Valwood’s old football coach is changing sports, while a new one is moving in from Florida.

On Friday, Valwood headmaster Cobb Atkinson announced the hiring of Brannon Tidwell as head coach of the Valwood varsity football team. Tidwell takes over for Mike Patrick, who has coached the Valiants for the last seven years.

Patrick steps away from football after a successful stint as head coach. In his seven seasons, he led the Valiants to six playoff appearances, including the 2006 GISA Class AA state championship game. Patrick will remain at Valwood, where he will become the head coach of the boys basketball program. He is also the golf coach, and has led the Valiants to region titles in three of the past four years.

Brannon Tidwell brings a wealth of football experience to the Valwood program. A graduate of Florida State, Tidwell has coached at two Division I college programs and several large high schools. He spent two years at Florida State as a student assistant before becoming the offensive coordinator at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, where his offense led the state of Florida with 444.5 yards per game. He then became a graduate assistant at Mississippi State, where he served as a defensive coach and helped with recruiting, before being promoted to a full-time assistant.

After a coaching change at Mississippi State, Tidwell became the quarterbacks and receivers coach at Andrew Jackson High in Jacksonville, then rejoined the staff at Florida State in 2004. In his second stint at FSU, he was named Quality Control Coach, breaking down opponents’ films, running the scout team and working closely with the quarterbacks.

Tidwell has coached in four NCAA bowl games, including two national championship games, all with Florida State. He was with the Seminoles when they played for the national championship in 2000 and 2001, and earned a championship ring when Florida State beat Virginia Tech 46-29 at the 2000 Sugar Bowl.

Tidwell was also with FSU in 2005 and 2006 when it played in the Gator and Orange Bowls, respectively. Brannon also coached in the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference championship game in 2005, when Florida State defeated Virginia Tech, and in the 2001 and 2003 Florida High School state football playoffs. For the last two years, he has worked for Digital Sports Video, selling scouting software to high schools throughout the state of Florida.

Tidwell is married to Lindsay Carter-Tidwell and lives in Lake City, Fla.