On Thursday, Central Cabarrus High School announced that it has brought back Donnie Kiefer to lead its football program.

Kiefer, a Central Cabarrus alum, originally served as the Vikings’ head coach from 2012-16.

This is the 12th instance of Kiefer being hired as a high school head coach.

Most recently, Kiefer served as the head coach at West Ashley High School in Charleston, South Carolina.

In December, Kiefer told South Carolina media that he was retiring from coaching.

According to Carolina Preps, Kiefer has been a head coach at St. Pauls (1986-87), Southwest Guilford (1988-90), Gates County (1991-93), Andrews (1994-95), Hibriten (1996-1998), the defunct Roanoke (1999-2003), East Carteret (2004-06), Tuscola (2007-11), Central Cabarrus (2012-16), Green Sea-Floyds of South Carolina (2017-19), and West Ashley of South Carolina (2020-24). The longest he has stayed at one school has been five years, which has happened three times.

Kiefer won two SCHSL 1A state championships at Green Sea-Floyds, in 2018 and 2019.

As a head coach in North Carolina, Kiefer has an overall record of 223-150. In his first stint at Central Cabarrus, he was 36-24.

With an average daily membership of 1,369 students this school year, Central Cabarrus is set to be a 6A school after the upcoming N.C. High School Athletic Association realignment.

In the initial conference draft released by the NCHSAA, Central Cabarrus was plugged into a 6A/7A Conference with fellow 6As Berry Academy, Harding University, and Olympic, as well as with 7As A.L. Brown, Cox Mill, Hickory Ridge, and West Cabarrus. The conferences are subject to change following the appeals period.

Over their history, the Vikings have yet to appear in a regional final or a state championship. Central Cabarrus’ last winning season came in 2019, when Kenneth McClamrock led them to a 7-5 overall finish.