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The best of the best in Alabama High
School Football over the past 100 seasons.
2024 Class 2A Coaching Changes
2024 Head Football Coaching Changes |
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Region 1 Bayshore Christian - New Program 2024 Season - Phil Lazenby returns to the sidelines in 2024 after starting the football program at Bayshore Christian in Fairhope. Lazenby is a veteran coach with 200 victories under his belt in 26 seasons. His teams have appeared in the playoffs in 21 of those seasons. Coach Lazenby has previously led programs at Guntersville, Southside Gadsden, Benjamin Russell and Bayside Academy. Central Hayneville - Corvin Johnson leaves Central High School after just two seasons with a record of 5-13 to show for his efforts. 2024 Season - Jul Little is from Linden where he played football from 2007-2011. He is a 2012 graduate of Linden High School. After graduation he signed a scholarship to play at Miles College and played one season there under Reginald Ruffin. Coach Little then transferred to UAB, walked on and played on the 2014 team that got cancelled, before graduating in 2016. His coaching career began in 2019 at Clarke County High School. He spent two seasons there under Coach Stacy Luker coaching running backs and assisting with Defensive Backs. After those two seasons he returned home to Linden as the Offensive Coordinator in 2021. In 2022 he switched to the defensive coordinator. St. Lukes - Ronn Lee retired after twenty-nine seasons as a head football coach in Alabama. He spent the last nine at St. Luke's with a record of 42-55 and five playoff appearances. 2024 Season - Joe Gilmore was immediately named the next head football coach at St. Luke's following the retirement of Coach Lee. Gilmore will be the fourth head football coach in school history following Eddie Guth, John Beverly and Lee. He served on the staff at St. Luke's as offensive line coach between 2016-2018. The last five years he was at Northlake Christian School in Covington, LA where he was the offensive coordinator. This will be Gilmore's first head coaching job. Chickasaw - Carl Herring departs from Chickasaw after two seasons as the head football coach with a record of 12-10. Both his teams qualified for the playoffs but fell in the first round. 2024 Season - Dedrick Sumpter is familiar with the Mobile area having served as the head coach at Williamson and Blount previously. Sumpter spent the last two seasons as Pike County's offensive coordinator. Region 2 Houston County - Jake Allen leaves Houston County after just two seasons leading the Lions. His two seasons produced a record of 7-13 without a playoff appearance. 2024 Season - Tanner Harris is returning home to Columbia this fall to lead the Houston County Lions football program. Harris spent last season as the head coach at Brilliant. His father was the head coach for the Lions between 1997-2001 and 2020-2021. In addition to his head football role at Houston County, Harris will also be the Lions' athletic director and a physical education teacher. He served as an assistant coach to his Dad in 2020-2021 at Houston County. Geneva County - Josh Thompson departs from Geneva County after only two seasons with a record of 3-17 to show for his efforts. 2024 Season - Al Gilmore was hired at Geneva County just weeks after the departure of Coach Thompson in March. Gilmore is a graduate of G.W. Long High School and spent the last six seasons assisting the Elba Tigers football program. He has also worked at Wicksburg, G.W. Long, and Dale County amongst other schools in our area. This will be his first head coaching job in football. Region 3 Luverne - Ed Rigby leaves Luverne for nearby Opp shortly after the vacancy appeared in late May. His one year at Luverne produced a 7-4 record. 2024 Season - Bobby Hudson is a former Troy Trojan football players from 2008-2010. He has served as defensive coordinator, strength & conditioning coach, special teams coordinator, linebackers coach, and secondary coach while coaching at Daphne, Greenville, Luverne, Eufaula and Briarwood Christian. Coach Hudson is a graduate of Elba High School and Troy University. Highland Home - Will Pouncey leaves Highland home after five seasons and a 39-22 record. He did a great job in building the football program. His last two season included 22 victories which were the most any any tow consecutive seasons in school history. A short time later he accepted a job as an assistant coach at Goshen. 2024 Season - Justin Bragg is a 2000 graduate of Highland Home. He was an assistant at Luverne High School from 2008 to 2014 before returning to Highland Home. This will be his first head coaching job. Region 4 Central Coosa - Shundell Russaw exits Central Coosa after just two seasons with a record of 4-16. 2024 Season - Daniel Flowers arrives at Central Coosa with nine years of head coaching experience at Southside Selma and Wenonah. Lanett - Chip Seagle called it a career after a 40-year career. He started at Lanett in 2009 and served as an assistant coach to Coach Story before taking over the reins of the program last season for one year. 2024 Season - R.J. McDonald will be on the sidelines as a head football coach for the first time in 2024. He is from Lanett and graduated from nearby Springwood in 2015. McDonald served as an assistant coach at Smiths Station before returning to Lanett as the offensive coordinator the past three seasons. Loachapoka - Frederick Newton stepped down as the head football coach at Loachapoka after being elected to the Chambers County School Board in March. After more than 20 years as a coach and teacher he will try his hand at politics. 2024 Season - Branden Hall graduated from Auburn High School in 2000 and has a B.S. from Troy University in Sports and Fitness Management. He has been teaching at Auburn Junior High and Coached the defensive line at Auburn High the last three seasons. Previously he was an assistant coach at Russell County for two year and the DL coach at Central Phenix City for another six years (2013-2018). Region 5 Aliceville - Grady Griffin departs from Aliceville after three season sporting a 24-12 record and three playoff appearances. He has accepted a job at Pinson Valley as the offensive coordinator. 2024 Season - Anthony Sawyer Region 6 West End Walnut Grove - Derrick Sewell leaves West End after three seasons with a break even record of 16-16. His last two teams reached the playoffs falling in the first round. Sewell would later accept the head coaching job at Gaston. 2024 Season - Matt Harris is a 1999 graduate of West End High School where he played football for the patriots. In 2024 he returns home as the head football coach at West End. He served as the offensive line coach for the Patriots last season before being promoted in April. Harris was the head coach at Gaston between 2020-2022. Harris also made assistant coaching stops at Sardis, Boaz and Locust Fork. Region 7 Gaston - Alan Beckett leaves Gaston after just one season and a 2-8 record. He was hired at Gaston just two weeks prior to the 2023 football season and the team struggled to field enough players but Coach Beckett righted the ship and worked to rebuild the program. The school simply wished to go in a different direction it seems. 2024 Season - Derrick Sewell accepted the head coaching job at Gaston in April after moving over from West End. Sewell was the head coach at West End the last three seasons going 16-16 with two playoff appearances over the last two years. Before his time at West End, Sewell was the head coach at Ragland, going to the playoffs his final season there. Sewell previously was an assistant and the head baseball coach at Gaston from 2012-14, when he was starting his coaching career. North Sand Mountain - Keith Kirby stepped down as the head football coach in November after leading the Bison for the last eight seasons. His record with the program was 55-37 and 4-8 in the playoffs. He leaves as the winningest coach ever at the school and won more playoff games than any previous head coach. 2024 Season - Jay Lipscomb graduated from Springville High School in 2013 and UAB before embarking on his coaching career. He served as the Defensive Coordinator at Clarke County High School the past two seasons before heading back north to take over the head coaching duties at North Sand Mountain. Region 8 Tanner - Oscar Bonds started his stint at Tanner with back-to-back 1-9 seasons but turned things around for the Rattlers as they went 26-18 his last four seasons with the program. In six years his teams finished a combined 28-36 with his last squad being his most successful at 8-4 losing to Pisgah in the second round of the playoffs. 2024 Season - Matt Smith will take over the football program at Tanner this season in hopes of continuing the success for the Rattlers. He has coached the boys soccer team the past ten seasons and led them to a first ever state championship in 2023. His soccer teams finished a combined 139-59 over the past ten seasons. Smith is a 2007 graduate of Tanner. | |
David Parker
AHSFHS.org
dparker@ahsfhs.org
Great Moments in Alabama High School Football History
In 1970 Monroe Academy won the first championship in the A.I.S.A. by defeating Lowndes Academy 6-0.
In 1970 Monroe Academy won the first championship in the A.I.S.A. by defeating Lowndes Academy 6-0.
