Reginald Chavis is returning to the Eastern District, where his football career began.

Following three seasons at Smithfield High School as the Head Football Coach, Chavis formally announced his resignation over the weekend upon accepting the same position at Norview High School in Norfolk.

"It definitely was bitter-sweet. I loved those guys at Smithfield with all my heart. They know I'd give them the shirt off my back. The relationships that I built there with the parents, the community, the faculty and staff I will never forget. But the opportunity to return to home was too much to pass up," Chavis told VirginiaPreps.com.

Chavis, 34, guided the Packers to a 23-11 mark over three seasons with three regional playoff appearances. One of the signature moments came last November when he led them to a 15-8 comeback win over Lake Taylor - a recent two-time State Champion - in the opening round of the playoffs.

It was the first postseason victory for the Packers since 2012 when they beat King George 21-14, and just the program's third ever. Their other playoff triumph came in 1993 in a 42-36 win over Southampton.

"I wrestled with it because the cupboard definitely isn't dry at Smithfield. There are some dudes there that can play. It wasn't easy at all," Chavis added. "The core of my staff are from Norview, so that played into it as well."

Christen Chavis, Reginald's brother and offensive coordinator, along with QB's/DB's coach D'Alan Goodhope both hail from Norview. As for Reginald himself, he attended Norview High his freshman and sophomore year. It also was where he began his coaching career.

Between there and taking the Norview job, Chavis had coaching stops at Booker T. Washington High, Northside Middle School Norfolk State University.

At Norview, Chavis follows Dealton Cotton, who relinquished coaching duties last month in an effort to devote more of his time as the school's Athletic Director. Cotton went 39-21 at the helm and took the Pilots to the State Semifinals in 2016 before they were knocked out by eventual State Champ Highland Springs.

Though some players have departed through graduation and even transferring in recent months from the Pilots, Chavis isn't discouraged one bit about keeping Norview in contention.

"As long as I've been growing up in Norview and around there, they've always had talent. The process of someone wanting to transfer or the loss of talent didn't really bother me. When I got to Smithfield, we had some guys that left before got there. My outlook is I didn't coach them. It's all about my ability to grow and develop, put that talent together that's already, and focus on what we have. That's the straightfoward approach I've always had," Chavis went on to say.

"Coach Cotton is one of those 757 legends in my eyes. My goal is to do what I've always done, and that's work hard. Don't let anyone outwork you. You can't go in and try to emulate somebody else and you have to do it your way. When you try to emulate somebody else, you lose a part of yourself."

One of the things Chavis prides himself on most is preparing his athletes for the next level. While at Smithfield, he sent nearly a dozen players on to college, most notably Chris Pierce (Vanderbilt) to an SEC program as well as Willie Drew (James Madison) and Will Robinson (Hampton) to FCS schools.

That will remain one of his goals with the Pilots, who'll have their hands full in an Eastern District that figures to be as competitive in a while. Lake Taylor is projected to return 17 starters, while Maury and Norcom have multiple players with Power 5 offers, plus even Booker T. Washington with 2021 RB Rodney Hammond and Granby with 2021 lineman Katron Evans have players with offers from ACC programs.

"I was telling a coach at another school that it's like the Wild Wild West again, when the district was hot. I'm excited about it and I know the time restraints, but I'm not going to speed up anything about the process. Whatever we do, it's going to be gradual," Chavis noted.

"I believe that regardless of how much we improve in or how much we don't improve in, as long as it's forceful. We met with the coaches and everybody appears to be on the same page, so I'm expecting for this transition to be great."

Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a regular contributor to the ACC Sports Journal. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1.