Philadelphia named David Frey as its new head football coach Thursday. Frey was named interim head coach on Aug. 27 following the resignation of Bobby Hall.

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia High School removed the interim tag from David Frey as it named him the new Tornadoes’ head football coach during a Thursday press conference at the school’s library.

Frey, 33, became interim head coach after the Aug. 27 resignation of Bobby Hall. Frey guided Philadelphia to an 8-4 record and an appearance in the third round of the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs.

“Philadelphia football has a long and rich history of winning, and my goal is to continue that tradition,” said Frey, who served as defensive coordinator prior to being tabbed as interim head coach. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with these athletes for four seasons. This has allowed me to know first-hand our strengths and weaknesses. We have a great group of kids coming back next year on offense and defense.”

Philadelphia Public School District superintendent Lisa Hull and high school principal Michael Tardy offered introductory remarks before officially naming Frey as head coach. 

“We looked at it very, very hard and seriously,” Tardy said. “We know how important football is to this city and to this school, and so we wanted to certainly make the best available decision for our children and for our community.”

Under Frey, Philadelphia averaged 31 points per game this season and outscored its first two playoff opponents 100-19 before falling 14-0 to Calhoun City in the third round of the postseason. 

“We had a great run this past year, but we were disappointed that it ended without playing in the state championship, of course,” Frey said. “Our coaching staff and kids are all focused on one goal right now, and that’s to make the state championship next year. We all feel like we can do it. I’d like to thank Dr. Hull, the school board and Mr. Tardy for this opportunity. I’m very excited.”

Tardy said Frey’s ability to stabilize the Tornadoes’ football program following Hall’s departure left a positive impression on school officials.  

“Coach Frey was thrust into a tough situation,” Tardy said. “He came in behind a legendary hall-of-fame coach after the third game of the season, and he had an opportunity to play a rivalry game in his first game thrust into the interim situation. He came in and did a fantastic job for us. He improved every week, and we’re very proud of the job that he did here for our young men and for our community.”

Frey graduated from Nanih Waiya High School in 2003 before attending East Central Community College and Louisiana College, where he played baseball. Frey graduated from Mississippi State University in 2008.

Prior to Philadelphia, Frey had stops at Nanih Waiya, Leake Central and Kosciusko as an assistant. 

For Hull, watching Frey mature into the role over the course of the season, and the opportunity to bring continuity to the program, made Frey’s selection as head coach an easy choice.

“To just watch him all season long, and to see the growth of our team and how the kids really responded to him, and to take that situation and turn it into the third round of the playoffs, there are a lot of teams that would have loved to have been where we were,” Hull said. “We just felt like with everything that he had done, and the growth of him that we had seen out on the field, we just felt like he was a good fit for us… The kids know him, they know what we’re doing, and they can just build upon what we have.”