Coming off a state championship run at St. Francis, head coach Cabral Huff is moving on to the next step in his career. He has accepted a job as the director of basketball operations at Georgia Southern University.

Huff will start in Statesboro next week and jump right into his duties with team camp and individual player camps.

The news comes as a bit of a surprise to the Georgia high school basketball community, considering the wealth of talent that is enrolled at the private school in Alpharetta.

St. Francis is home to some of the best prospects in the Southeast. Class of 2015 stud scoring guard Malik Beasley, 2015 wing forward Kaiser Gates, 2016 combo guard Kobi Simmons and 2015 post Josh Coleman all started for Huff during the school's Class A private championship run.

"One of the biggest things I've always told my guys was you, sometimes, only have one shot at doing things you dream about," Huff said. "This was a goal and dream of mine. You're an injury away, a bad break away from not going back to the state championship or whatever the case may be the next year. That played in my mind. There's nothing better than winning a state championship. We were able to achieve the highest level of accomplishment and the time was now...There were things that fell into place that just don't normally happen."

Drew Catlett will replace Huff in the head coaching position. Catlett has served as an assistant coach for the last four years. He coached at the Division I college level for nearly 20 years, including a run at West Virginia and Georgia State.

Huff said he broke the news to his team earlier in the week and communicating the career move was not an easy one.

"That was a tough deal. There was some crying," Huff admitted.

"Some kids don't understand that a lot of times it isn't the end all, be all as a coach. That was probably the toughest thing. They are excited for my opportunity but I've known those kids since before they even came to high school. It was tough. I'm not going to lie. It was probably the toughest day when you talk about a good occasion."