After former Sacred Heart football head coach Ed Smith announced he was stepping down in December, the Crusaders began the search for their next leader.
That search lasted just over a month, but the answer ultimately came from within the program. Sacred Heart Catholic High School announced Drew Dewease as the Crusaders’ next head football coach, beginning with the 2026–27 school year, turning to a longtime assistant who has spent more than a decade helping shape the program’s identity.
For Dewease, the opportunity is both professional and deeply personal.
“I’m very, very excited,” Dewease said. “I’ve been here for 13 years, and I’ve been fortunate to work for coaches Lonny Schraeder and Ed Smith, who built this program into what it is today. We’ve had great players and really, really good coaches. I’m very fortunate, very excited and very honored to be the next head coach.”
Dewease has served as an assistant football coach at Sacred Heart since 2013, working under Schraeder and Smith. His promotion represents continuity for a Crusader program rooted in tradition, faith and community.
Dewease said the years spent alongside both head coaches helped prepare him for this opportunity.
“The things nobody ever saw — fundraising, day-to-day operations, building and running a program — that’s where I learned the most,” Dewease said. “How he handled kids, how he handled situations with players, in-game stuff — there’s a whole list. Coach Smith and Coach Schraeder both taught me how to do it the right way. The success we’ve had is in large part a credit to Ed and our kids.”
While those leadership skills will guide Dewease as he steps into his first full-time head football coaching role, he is no stranger to leadership. He previously served as interim head baseball coach at Sacred Heart in 2018 and spent time as an interim girls basketball coach while the school searched for a permanent replacement.
Still, taking over the football program carries a unique weight, but also tremendous opportunity.
Dewease describes his coaching philosophy as one built on fundamentals, effort and physicality, tailored to the realities of coaching at a smaller school.
“We want to be fundamentally sound and create a culture of toughness and relentless effort,” Dewease said. “We want to be physical and really, really good at the little things. We have to do things differently here than maybe you would at other places because of the number of kids we have, but we’re going to try to play fast, physical and aggressive.”
That approach would continue Sacred Heart’s identity over the years, emphasizing physicality, discipline and execution.
Coaching, however, has been a calling for Dewease long before his return to Sacred Heart as an assistant.
As a ninth grader, Dewease played for Schraeder and served as a teacher’s assistant for then-offensive coordinator Herbert Davis, who is currently the head coach at MRA. Dewease pointed to early afternoons drawing plays on a whiteboard as the spark that ignited his lifelong interest in coaching.
“That’s kind of how I got hooked into coaching,” Dewease said. “I’ve known since I was a sophomore in high school that this is what I wanted to do.”
Dewease later served as a student assistant at Pearl River Community College in 2006 and worked at Oak Grove High School, experiences he credits with further fueling his desire to coach and lead young athletes.
Now, those early ambitions have come full circle.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Dewease said. “I’ve been fortunate to work for great coaches and be around great people, and this opportunity means a lot.”
Sacred Heart administrators informed players of the decision earlier this week, bringing clarity and stability to the program as it looks ahead to the next chapter. While plans for a formal press conference had not been finalized, Dewease said the focus was first on addressing the team and easing any uncertainty.
As he prepares to officially take over, Dewease remains grounded in what makes Sacred Heart unique.
“This is a special place filled with special people,” he said. “This is home.”
