Sid Maxwell said football is still in his blood. A year away from the sideline has done nothing to change that. Maxwell, the former head coach of the Lambert and Sequoyah football programs, was approved as the next Dawson County football coach during a board of education meeting Tuesday night. He will officially take over the Tigers football program on April 1, Dawson County Schools Superintendent Damon Gibbs said in a press release Wednesday. “When Dawson opened up it just seemed like a great job,” Maxwell said Wednesday. “I took a year off there and I’m excited about getting back into it.” Maxwell spent the bulk of his career at Sequoyah in Cherokee County, before leaving to start the Lambert football program in Forsyth County in 2009. He has compiled a 133-75 career record during his 20 seasons as a head coach, and his teams have finished at or above .500 each season since 1999. Maxwell posted a 27-16 record in four varsity seasons at Lambert, including a 6-5 mark in 2013, and led the Longhorns to the playoffs three times. He resigned as coach in February 2014. Maxwell takes over a Tigers football program that finished 2-8 in 2014 and last made the state playoffs in 2012. He replaces Jeff Lee, who resigned as Tigers football coach on Jan. 7 after 12 seasons and later accepted a head coaching position at North Bay Haven Charter Academy in Panama City, Fla. The new Tigers coach said the opportunity to work in a county with only one high school appealed to him.“I’m coming from a big area like Lambert where, within a 20-minute radius there might be five (Class) AAAAAA schools,” he said.“There’s very few places like Dawson left,” Maxwell said. “You’ve got one school in the county. You’ve got a chance to build a program from the bottom up.” Maxwell ran a traditional Wing-T offense most of his career, before tweaking the scheme during his time at Lambert. He said he believes in running a system that best fits his players.“We went a little more toward (Auburn coach Gus) Malzahn’s system,” Maxwell said. “It’s like Wing-T with a little bit of flair.” Maxwell holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Emory and Henry College located in Emory, Va. He also holds a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., as well as an Education Specialist degree in Administrative Leadership from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn.