Hugh Fountain grew up in East Brewton, Alabama and played football at W.S. Neal High School. He played guard at Troy State University, earning a letter in 1985, before receiving his degree.

His first head coaching job came at Evergreen High School in 1988 where his team finished 4-6. The next year an opportunity arose to return to his hometown and he seized the chance to coach the W.S. Neal Blue Eagles.

In his last three seasons at the school, Fountain took the Blue Eagles on one of their best runs in school history. His team compiled a 30-8 record in that span, the best since a 26-3-1 three-year run from 1959-61.

Fountain coached the team to a 12-2 record in 1995, tying the 1971 Neal team that finished 12-1 for the most wins in a season in school history. Blue Eagles entered the playoffs six times while compiling a 50-28 record during his tenure at the school.

In 1996, the 31 year old coach moved to Troy as the coach at Charles Henderson High School. He remained with the program for the next sixteen seasons, producing ten playoff appearances. His 2007 team finished the regular season undefeated before falling in the third round of the playoffs.

Coach Fountain moved to the AISA at Escambia Academy in the fall of 2012. He replaced Heath Gibson who stepped down after nine seasons with the Cougars.

In 2014, Coach Fountain won his first State Championship with Escambia Academy as his team finished 11-1 on the season.

Fountain's overall coaching record is 266-143 in 36 years as a head football coach. His teams have qualified for the playoffs twenty-eight times during his career.

In 2022 Coach Fountain returned to W.S. Neal in hopes of rebuilding that program.