File photoValdosta State coach David Dean, walking the sideline during the Blazers’ game against West Alabama on Oct. 31, 2016, is leaving to take a coaching position at Georgia Southern.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — David Dean is set to make his return to the Gulf South Conference.

The University of West Georgia announced Wednesday afternoon, Dean, the former Valdosta State head coach, will replace former coach Will Hall as the Wolves head football coach.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to come back to Carrollton and to get back into the Gulf South Conference. I’m also looking forward to working again with many people that I’ve kept in touch with over the years,” Dean said in the release. “We’re going to do everything we can to bring a national championship back to Carrollton. 

“This is a nationally prominent team that no one can ignore. We’re going to put the pieces of the puzzle together and build on the strengths that are already there.”

Hall recently took the position of offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette. One week later, West Georgia landed his successor.

“We’ve worked hard to build a championship culture at West Georgia and we are grateful to all who have been associated with this process for their hard work, devotion and dedication,” Wolves athletic director Daryl Dickey said. “We feel Coach Dean is the person best-suited to continue our football program’s mission of championship performance.”

A position at West Georgia means a return to the GSC for Dean, a conference he’s quite familiar after winning a conference championship, making six playoff appearances and capturing the 2007 and 2012 national titles as head coach at Valdosta State.

Dean spent 16 seasons as a part of the Blazers’ coaching staff, the first seven as offensive coordinator under Chris Hatcher and the final nine as head coach.

During Dean’s run as VSU’s head coach, he became the winningest coach in program history, compiling a 79-27 record powered by a balanced spread attack on offense and the Blazers’ “Black Swarm” defense.

Dean left his position at Valdosta State last January to accept a position, alongside former Valdosta High head coach Rance Gillespie, as co-offensive coordinator on Tyson Summers’ staff at Georgia Southern.

VSU replaced Dean with former Jacksonville University head coach Kerwin Bell, who went 8-3 and clinched a playoff berth in his first season with the Blazers.

On Dec. 5 it was reported Dean and Gillespie were both out after their first year with the Eagles, and now, less than two months later, Dean has found a new home with the Wolves.

Dean’s hire isn’t just a GSC homecoming. Prior to joining Hatcher’s staff at Valdosta State in 2000, Dean spent eight seasons as an assistant at West Georgia, including the final two as offensive coordinator.

In the Wolves, Dean inherits a team that finished 7-4 and missed the playoffs, but went 24-5 with back-to-back trips to the national semifinal round of the Division II playoffs in the two preceding seasons.

West Georgia will officially welcome Dean on Thursday with a meet-and-greet at the UWG Coliseum at 4 p.m.

Dean’s first game against his former team is tentatively set for Oct. 7 when West Georgia hosts Valdosta State in Carrollton.

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.