New Union Bears head coach Jamie Harless let’s hear your thoughts

[Oopsie]

Let’s hear em !

[UnionGuy2017]

Understandably, there will be alot of folks in the area who don’t know anything about him. They will soon find out. This is an elite hire that will bring much needed discipline and structure to the program. 
 

 

[CPF]

Same level coach as what you had. No falloff. Great hire.

[Gridiron60]

Quality hire - does he keep current staff as is or bring some of his own folks with him? Unless, Wise County has several openings at Union, he’d almost have to utilize at least of part the current staff. I’ll be interested to see if the number of adults on the sidelines dwindles. His known for his discipline, managing the adults of BSG may be his first true test. 

[Union_Fan]

AI Overview from a Google search this morning. Guess AI doesn’t dabble in the rumor mill. lol

Jamie Harless is the head football coach at Lord Botetourt High School in Daleville, Virginia, where he has led the Cavaliers for 14 seasons as of 2026. He is a highly successful coach known for reaching state championships and developing collegiate-level talent.  Based on the search results, there is no indication that Jamie Harless is moving to Union High School; he is currently at Lord Botetourt. 

 

A brief history at LB

Prior to taking the helm at LB in 2012, the Cavaliers hadn’t won a playoff game since 1984. They won 1 in his 2^nd year as head coach and he took them to the state championship game in his 4^th, 8^th and 9^th years. He’s made it to at least the 3^rd round in 6 other seasons.

A few of those playoff losses were extremely close, and to be fair, there were also a few blowouts. Very excited to see what he brings to Union.

 

From the BHC...

Having guided a high school football team in the Blue Ridge Mountains to its peak success, Jamie Harless is returning to far Southwest Virginia to call the shots for a Region 2D powerhouse.
The 1993 Abingdon High School graduate has been hired to take over the gridiron program at defending Region 2D champion Union, the school in Big Stone Gap announced on Tuesday morning.

Harless spent the past 14 seasons at the helm of the Lord Botetourt Cavaliers, a Class 3 program that twice reached the VHSL state finals under his watch.
Harless compiled a 132-41 record during his time at Botetourt as the Cavaliers finished as state runner-up to Hopewell (led by current New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson) in 2019 and in the spring of 2021 to Lafayette.

This past season, Lord Botetourt went 9-4 and lost to Magna Vista in the Region 3D finals. The Cavaliers opened the season with a 49-12 win over eventual Class 1 runner-up Rye Cove in a game played at Emory & Henry University’s Fred Selfe Stadium.

E&H is where the hard-nosed Harless was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American as a defensive tackle and he is a member of the school’s athletic hall of fame.

Prior to that he starred at Abingdon and helped the Falcons go 9-3 and finish as Region IV, Division 4 runner-up to eventual state champion Richlands during his senior season.
Abingdon did not win a game during Harless’ freshman season.

He oversaw a similar reversal of fortunes at Lord Botetourt.

Following a stint as the defensive coordinator at Cave Spring in Roanoke, Harless took over at Lord Botetourt in 2012 in a job that was not desirable.

When he arrived, the Cavs owned one playoff win in program history and that had come in 1984.
He was walking into a program that had finished below .500 for seven straight seasons.
However, Harless turned things around and led the Cavaliers to a playoff berth in his first season and the winning never stopped.

He takes over a program that is already established as Union has reached the playoffs every year since the school opened in the fall of 2011 from the consolidation of Appalachia and Powell Valley.
The Bears have won four regional titles and have lost all four of the program’s state semifinal game.

They must replace a talented senior class that included quarterback Kam Bostic, running back Kam Bostic, defensive end Carlos Anderson and several other standouts.

Harless initially did not enter the coaching profession, instead working in construction with his brother, Buddy, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Roanoke, Virginia, among other places. An accident in which he fell off a ladder and broke his back led Harless to reconsider some things and he ended up in the education field.

Now, he’s become one of the state’s top coaches and is back in the area where he starred in high school and college. Abingdon is one of Union’s Mountain 7 District rivals.

[Vol Hater]

14 minutes ago, CPF said:

Same level coach as what you had. No falloff. Great hire.

Agree home run hire. Same level most likely better.

[SWVAgridiron]

I think his style of coaching will fit in very well with what Union is use to. Hell of a hire for the Bears!

[Union_Fan]

9 minutes ago, Vol Hater said:

Agree home run hire. Same level most likely better.

I'm hoping that the people in the stands will see quickly what we've been missing.....and what several of us have been harping about for years.

[Sixcat Adjacent]

Just my opinion having lived in the Roanoke/Botetourt area for a decade. 

Harless runs a tight ship. He doesn't tolerate outside noise. He's a disciplinarian. His program will speak with one voice....his!!!  I don't foresee him allowing spectators or 73 assistant coaches on the sidelines. He's as close to a throwback to the 80's football coach as this area will have in this day and age. He'll win state championships at Union if the locals get out of his way and let him do his thing. 

Will they? Time will tell but changes will take place. Whether the locals like it or not.

[Vol Hater]

5 minutes ago, Union_Fan said:

I'm hoping that the people in the stands will see quickly what we've been missing.....and what several of us have been harping about for years.

I highly doubt they will. We shall see thou

[Vol Hater]

2 minutes ago, Sixcat Adjacent said:

Just my opinion having lived in the Roanoke/Botetourt area for a decade. 

Harless runs a tight ship. He doesn't tolerate outside noise. He's a disciplinarian. His program will speak with one voice....his!!!  I don't foresee him allowing spectators or 73 assistant coaches on the sidelines. He's as close to a throwback to the 80's football coach as this area will have in this day and age. He'll win state championships at Union if the locals get out of his way and let him do his thing. 

Will they? Time will tell but changes will take place. Whether the locals like it or not.

Im all for it ive personally said many times in the past to much outside noise too many coaches. Too many people thought they ran the program alot of people in bsg going to have hurt feelings.

[UnionGuy2017]

8 minutes ago, Sixcat Adjacent said:

Just my opinion having lived in the Roanoke/Botetourt area for a decade. 

Harless runs a tight ship. He doesn't tolerate outside noise. He's a disciplinarian. His program will speak with one voice....his!!!  I don't foresee him allowing spectators or 73 assistant coaches on the sidelines. He's as close to a throwback to the 80's football coach as this area will have in this day and age. He'll win state championships at Union if the locals get out of his way and let him do his thing. 

Will they? Time will tell but changes will take place. Whether the locals like it or not.

We will have a supply of hurt feelings reports ready to be filled out each Friday night for the first year or as long as it takes!

 

This is what we need. Leaders lead. 

[Fairlawncat]

10 minutes ago, Sixcat Adjacent said:

He'll win state championships at Union if the locals get out of his way and let him do his thing. 

Will they? Time will tell but changes will take place. Whether the locals like it or not.

That

[Union_Fan]

16 minutes ago, Sixcat Adjacent said:

Just my opinion having lived in the Roanoke/Botetourt area for a decade. 

Harless runs a tight ship. He doesn't tolerate outside noise. He's a disciplinarian. His program will speak with one voice....his!!!  I don't foresee him allowing spectators or 73 assistant coaches on the sidelines. He's as close to a throwback to the 80's football coach as this area will have in this day and age. He'll win state championships at Union if the locals get out of his way and let him do his thing. 

Will they? Time will tell but changes will take place. Whether the locals like it or not.

This is what we're hoping for!

There may be a few complainers, mostly the folks riding the gravy train, but people will get on board quickly. Very hard to complain when the comparison is a pedophile.

[Fairlawncat]

43 minutes ago, CPF said:

Same level coach as what you had. No falloff. Great hire.

And on that, we disagree. Hes a higher level coach in my opinion because offensively, far more knowledgeable. That's evidenced by watching Lord B's screen concepts compared to Union's non existent screen game, or close to non-existent.

The above is not to say Turner wasn't a good coach. And no, I'm not talking about the off field obvious issues, but on the field, running a program, preparation, he was a top 10 percent Class 2 Va HS Coach. But the difference in him and Harless? Dramatic difference on the offensive side of the ball and that is where Union came up short in a large percentage of their late season losses. That instantly changes in August.

[Sixcat Adjacent]

1 minute ago, Fairlawncat said:

And on that, we disagree. Hes a higher level coach in my opinion because offensively, far more knowledgeable.

Harless is a far superior football mind to Travis Turner. I agree with you, completely.

[tornado99]

Despite my sometimes skeptical analysis and posts considering economic growth in Botetourt and transfers/recruiting allegations, I do honestly believe he is an excellent coach and the right person for the job. 
 

I believe he emphasizes fundamentals and toughness, which matches the community well. Will there be a change in scheme that requires adjustment? I don’t know. What I have observed with limited information, was the success of the running game at LB. 
A few years prior, LB had a receiver with career record numbers before the widespread passing explosion in the high school game. 
I definitely believe Harless is a huge reason for the success and turnaround.

I don’t want to make projections, but I do believe that Union is one of a handful of places that consistently has a reasonable shot at winning a state title. 
I’m happy for you guys.

[Cousin_Hoyt]

Wonder if he’s going to thin down the sidelines?

[Union_Fan]

24 minutes ago, Cousin_Hoyt said:

Wonder if he’s going to thin down the sidelines?

I was told Sunday night that he already has.

[Vol Hater]

Just now, Union_Fan said:

I was told Sunday night that he already has.

Let's truly be honest here does any high school teams in 2a really need 25 coaches. I wonder thou who he keeps and who is let go. But I also heard he might be bringing someone with him in the form of B.I. from Rye cove

[Union_Fan]

1 minute ago, Vol Hater said:

Let's truly be honest here does any high school teams in 2a really need 25 coaches. I wonder thou who he keeps and who is let go. But I also heard he might be bringing someone with him in the form of B.I. from Rye cove

Nope. As you said, way too much noise on the sidelines. Maybe some of those people can serve in other capacities, but they're all not needed between the 30s on Friday nights.

I'm good with anyone he brings with him because I know they'll have a purpose.

[BigWinners]

Bout as good of a hire as anyone could have hoped. Even with all the circus around the program, being able to land a guy with a proven track record and local pedigree is a home run. 

[Unchained]

1 hour ago, Union_Fan said:

This is what we're hoping for!

There may be a few complainers, mostly the folks riding the gravy train, but people will get on board quickly. Very hard to complain when the comparison is a pedophile.

Bingo! Shaft the freeloading backpack brigade, close practice and get mommy and daddy out of there:). Most of us are beyond ready for fresh faces and a change.

[Union_Fan]

A few updates on the BHC article...

The new coach will meet with Union’s players on Wednesday morning.

“What a great job in a football-crazy town,” Harless said.

His mom, Sandy, still lives in the Greendale community of Abingdon and his son, Jackson, is a freshman football player at Emory & Henry University.

“An opportunity to be around family probably had to more to do with that than anything,” Harless said. “As you start getting older, you go through certain seasons in life and realize there are other things more important like being near family and getting back to your roots too.”

“I think it’s like anywhere else,” Harless said. “There are going to be things that you feel like are good and things that you are going to feel like you need to change. You need to get a feel for the temperament of the kids of initially what they can handle. At first it’s going to be a lot of assessment and what the right direction is to take everything in. You do have a place where football is very important and that in itself is a great thing.”

What sticks out to him the most about his time in Daleville?

“Just dealing with great kids,” Harless said. “It wasn’t easy. We got everything done before and after school. We never had a situation where we got to have the kids in the weight room during the day, so kids had to commit to 6:30 in the morning workouts. Nothing was easy. That’s not a knock. There’s nothing wrong with getting up early and working hard and the kids understand the value of that and I think that had a huge role in [Lord Botetourt’s] success. I would say anybody that thought we had advantages, we really didn’t.”

Union (like Powell Valley before them) plays its home games at iconic Bullitt Park. Has Harless been there?

“I played in a scrimmage there. Needless to say it was well-attended and there was a lot of energy just for a scrimmage,” Harless said. “Anybody that has any understanding of football history they know what’s happened between those two communities. If you’re not a football person you might not, but if you know about football history, you’d have to be blind to not know the history that sits in that little corner of the state.”

Union relied on a physical style and that won’t change under Harless.
“I’m going to punch you in the face for 48 minutes and you better be able to punch me in the face for 48 minutes,” Harless said. “I’m going to do it in an intellectually strategic way. It’s not going to be done with a lack of IQ.”
 

Fourteen guys he mentored at Botetourt were team captains at the collegiate level.

“For me the big thing is watching kids succeed,” Harless said. “It’s not just the development part physically, but I’m a huge believer in the leadership element. We are going to butt heads if you aren’t wanting to be a good man.”

Lineman Gage Bassham transferred from Abingdon to Lord Botetourt for his senior season in 2019 and later played at Liberty University.

“I would describe Coach Harless as a coach that truly makes a difference in every player he coaches,” Bassham said. “He is extremely selfless with his effort and time and is always knowledgeable. He is a coach that every player on our team believed in and trusted.”

[Gridiron60]

Fantastic, he’s meeting with players on Wednesday. That’s key,  hitting the ground running. I think the players will go all in for him. They need stability and consistency after everything that happened and he will bring that as well as knowledge, discipline, and proven track record. Future looks brighter than it ever has in my opinion.