A standout multi-sports high-school athlete, then later an impactful assistant coach — all in Arlington — Joe McBride is switching counties to apply his craft.

The 2015 Yorktown High School graduate recently was hired as the new head varsity football coach at C.G. Woodson High in Fairfax County.

As an athlete at Yorktown, the Arlington native, 27, quarterbacked the football team and was a wide receiver. He also was a varsity basketball player for Yorktown.

After Yorktown, McBride was a football player at Randolph-Macon College, graduating in 2019. He started coaching at Yorktown in the fall of 2019, and currently is a social-studies teacher at the school. He likely will join the faculty at Woodson after the current school year.

For the last few years, McBride has been both Yorktown’s head football and boys basketball coach at the freshman level. He’s also been an assistant varsity football coach.

“This is something I have always wanted to do,” McBride said about becoming a head varsity football coach. “I learned a lot coaching at Yorktown and that prepared me for this next step. The situation at Woodson is a unique opportunity. We want to have good culture building at Woodson, like there is at Yorktown.”

At Yorktown, McBride played for longtime head coach Bruce Hanson, who retired at the end of this past season.

“Joe will do a great job at Woodson,” Hanson told ARLnow. “He knows the game and how to coach kids. I’ve watched him do that well.”

Hanson hasn’t ruled out helping McBride at Woodson in some capacity.

McBride takes over a Woodson team that finished 0-10 last season and 1-9 the year before. The Cavaliers have not had a winning season since 2018, when they finished second in the 6C North Region tournament.

Decades ago, however, Woodson was a perennial region contender.

“We want to do simple fundamental things well at Woodson,” McBride said. “Those little details will add up. Winning can happen at Woodson, because it has a lot there before. We have to get the players to buy in and believe.”

Yorktown and Woodson are not scheduled to play next season. The teams did meet this past season.