Union County officially introduced former South Carolina quarterback Steve Taneyhill as its football coach during a pep rally Tuesday.

Taneyhill, who spent the past seven years at Chesterfield and led the 1A school to three straight state titles in 2007-09, was met with cheers from the student body and responded by wishing the basketball teams luck in the playoffs and asking for the same enthusiasm in the fall.

The pep rally was followed by a news conference during which Taneyhill made his first public comments about becoming the Yellow Jackets coach.

"I'm happy to be here," Taneyhill said. "It's a great opportunity for me, and I'm excited. I met with the players, and they also seem excited. That's what we want. Hopefully on Fridays we can win some games, and I expect to win games."

The Union County school board voted 7-2 to offer the job to Taneyhill on Monday night. Along with being the football coach, Taneyhill will assist with the school's athletic duties beginning March 1. He will earn an annual salary of $70,000, Union County Superintendent Kristi Woodall said.

Taneyhill said Union County felt like the right fit when interviewing for the job.

"The first interview we talked a lot about football," he said. "In the interview process, as much as they were interviewing me, I was interviewing them. After that interview, everything just felt right."

Taneyhill added that he heeded advice from former South Carolina coach Brad Scott, who currently is in an administrative role in the Clemson athletics department, upon considering the Union County position.

"Coach Scott told me a long time ago when I got into coaching to not just go anywhere," he said. "The tradition here was a big draw. I want to be the best, and this is going to be fun. I hope everybody is ready."

Taneyhill said offensively the Yellow Jackets will be fast-paced and work out of the spread. Defensively, he said they will "take chances and fly around."

Chesterfield's offensive line coach will be the only coach to make the move to Union County, Taneyhill said. He added that a couple of other positions, including defensive coordinator, also will need to be filled on the Yellow Jackets staff.

Taneyhill becomes the third new coach within the newly realigned Region 3-AAA. Chapman hired former Carolina High coach Mark Hodge, and Broome selected former Clover and Wilson Hall coach Jet Turner.

Taneyhill said, while anticipating playing the region schedule, full concentration is on the season opener at Spartanburg.

"My focus is on the first game of the year," he said. "It is good for us with three new coaches in the region. I'm going to have to rely on the assistant coaches to get familiar with those teams. ... Right now I'm excited for the season and will worry about the region when it gets here."