Taneyhill officially a Yellow Jacket

Steve Taneyhill has gotten a jump on his new job.

The former Chesterfield coach was officially named football coach at Union County on Monday night and he’s already started watching and breaking down tape on his new team.

“I have seen some film on them and they have some good wideouts and a very good looking quarterback and running back,” Taneyhill said Monday night. “I want to get to work right away. I feel like I’m two months behind everyone else.”

Taneyhill, rumored for the Union job over the last week, replaces Dave Lipsey, who resigned after five seasons in November.

Union went 4-7 this season and lost to South Pointe 41-7 in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. The Yellow Jackets have had a losing record three of the last four seasons.

Union has a solid history of playing for state championships, though. The Yellow Jackets have won five state titles with the last one coming in 2002 against Camden.

“It is a big challenge but that makes it fun and, at this time, that is what I was looking for,” Taneyhill said. “I want to build somebody else up to the top. I want to try to get Union back to what they used to be.”

Taneyhill built the Rams up to a powerhouse in Class A football. The former South Carolina quarterback went 71-22 and led the Rams to three straight Class A Division I state championships from 2007-09.

Taneyhill had only one losing season at Chesterfield and his teams won more than 10 games in a season in five of his seven years there. Before Taneyhill, the Rams had five straight losing seasons and never won more than nine games in a season.

Chesterfield went 11-2 this season before losing to Abbeville 17-14 in the Class A upper state championship.

The Rams return a good nucleus of players from this year’s squad, including quarterback Dillon Rivers. The sophomore threw for more than 3,000 yards this season.

“Coach Taneyhill has really helped me a lot and switched this program a lot from what it used to be,” he said. “He has taught me so much on how to be a quarterback and how to be a leader.

“Him leaving is going to hurt us, but we are going to have to move on.”

Taneyhill’s teams at Chesterfield have been known for their spread offense. The Rams averaged 43.3 points a game this season and scored more than 50 points in a game five times.

Taneyhill will meet with his Chesterfield team for a final time this morning before heading back to Union in the afternoon to meet with the Yellow Jacket players and attend a press conference at the school.

In addition to teaching, Taneyhill will be an administrative assistant in the athletic department.

Taneyhill said offensive line coach Ryan Young will be going with him to Union, but the rest of his staff will remain at Chesterfield.