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The best of the best in Alabama High
School Football over the past 100 seasons.
2024 Class 7A Coaching Changes
2024 Head Football Coaching Changes |
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Region 1 Robertsdale - Kyle Stanford leaves Robertsdale with a record of 8-31 in four seasons leading the program. None of his teams reached the playoffs in region one. Next year the Golden Bears will move up to 7A which will prove even more difficult for the struggling program in Baldwin County. The Bears last won a playoff game back in 2001 and have not produced a winning season during the past 22 years under five different head coaches. 2024 Season - Cris Bell resigned from his head coaching job at Scottsboro to take over the same duties at Robertsdale in February. He spent three seasons in Scottsboro and the previous nine years at Oak Mountain. His overall record in twelve seasons is 65-64. Baker - Steve Normand after just five seasons as the head football coach at Baker, steps down. It was the most successful five year span the Hornets have ever known on the field. His teams reached the playoffs four times. Normand spent a total of 20 years on the staff at Baker and will be missed by the school. 2024 Season - Juan Johnson accepted the head coaching job at Baker in February. He was the offensive coordinator at Hewitt-Trussville the past four seasons and was on the staff for a total of eight seasons. Previously he was an assistant coach at T.R. Miller. Johnson played his high school football at T.R. Miller and helped the Tigers win the 2000 state championship. He also played college football at Tuskegee before embarking on his coaching career. Davidson - Rick Cauley leaves Davidson after leading the Warriors the past five seasons with a 15-36 record. His last squad finished 5-6 losing in the first round of the playoffs. His overall record at B. Rain, Murphy and Davison sits at 35-59 in nine seasons as a head football coach in Alabama. 2024 Season - John Lambert was promoted to the head coaching job at Davidson in late May. He is a 1995 graduate of Murphy. Lambert has spent the last 25 years coaching in Mobile County. He spent 19 years at Murphy and has been at Davidson six years. He has been the defensive coordinator and co-offensive coordinator. Region 2 Carver Montgomery - Marcus Gardner was relieved of his coaching duties at Carver after just three seasons leading the football program in Montgomery. His three squads were successful posting a 20-12 record and reached the playoffs each season. Carver will be consolidating with Sidney Lanier prior to the next football season in 2024 so much is expected of the team in 2024. 2024 Season - Bobby Carr is one of the winningest head coaches in the state having a record of 250-52 in twenty-five seasons as a head football coach in the AISA. His teams have won ten state championships and all but two have qualified for the playoffs. His previous stops were at New Life Christian, Edgewood Academy and Autauga Academy. He spent last season as the offensive coordinator at Elberta. J.A.G. - Rory Bell leaves J.A.G. after four seasons with an 8-32 record on the football field. The School has seen many changes over the past couple of decades including a name change from Jeff Davis to J.A.G. this past year. Long gone are the great teams of the 1970s and 80s. Producing a winning program will prove to be difficult for any head football coach for the foreseeable future in Montgomery. The Jaguars have not won a playoff game since the 2003 football season in their last six trips to the post season. 2024 Season - Roy Upchurch is a former running back for the University of Alabama. He was hired in February as the new Head Football Coach for J.A.G. High School. Upchurch was previously the offensive coordinator at Dora. He also coached at Pinson Valley prior to arriving in Dora. He played for the Tide on the 2009 National Championship team. This will be his first head coaching job. Opelika - Erik Speakman will not return to the Bulldogs sidelines in 2024 having been relieved of his head coaching duties in November. He leaves with a record of 45-25 and 9-4 in the playoffs. Opelika made the jump up to 7A in 2022 and struggled against some of the best teams in the state with Auburn, Central PC, Dothan High and Enterprise in the same region. The Bulldogs failed to qualify for the playoffs his last two seasons for the first time since 1997. 2024 Season - Bryan Moore arrives in Opelika after four seasons leading the Hartselle football program with a 38-9 record including two region championships in 2021 & 2022. Moore is a graduate of Springwood and Auburn University. He spent eight seasons as an assistant at Opelika before landing his first head coaching job at Eufaula in 2015. In 2018 he moved on to Jasper for a couple of years before accepting the head coaching job at Hartselle in 2020. His 86-21 record is among the best winning percentages in the state. Percy Julian - DreQuay Everett stepped down from his duties as head football coach at Percy Julian in November after just two seasons. His teams went 6-14 with neither reaching the playoffs. The once proud football program of Robert E. Lee has struggled over the past couple of decades to maintain a winning style and has only gotten past the second round of the playoffs once since 1999. A new name for the school may not prove enough to return them to the powerhouse they once were in the 1950-1990 seasons in Montgomery. 2024 Season - Kenneth White will lead the Pheonix in the fall at Percy Julian. This will be his first head coaching job. He has hopes of rebuilding the once storied football program. The team will be moving from 7A to 6A so the going may be a little easier for the Pheonix in 2024. Region 3 Hoover - Wade Waldrop leaves the Hoover Bucs after just two seasons leading the prestigious football program with a record of 16-9. While his first team finished 11-2 and won a region crown before losing to Thompson in the semifinals, his last squad only managed to go 5-7 with a very difficult schedule. Overall in 18 seasons as a head football coach in the state his teams have a combined record of 116-84 and 7-13 in the playoffs. It seems that maybe the competition has caught up to the Bucs in recent years and their hopes are a new head man on the sidelines will bring back the glory days of Rush Propst and Josh Niblett. 2024 Season - Drew Gilmer leaves Clay-Chalkville after seven very successful seasons. His 2021 and 2023 teams finished with undefeated seasons and a state championship. Each of his teams qualified for the playoffs and all but one (2022) reached the third round of the playoffs. His 81-12 record is nothing short of amazing in his first eight seasons as a head football coach. Tuscaloosa County - Adam Winegarden leaves Tuscaloosa County after just three seasons with a 12-18 record leading the football program. He accepted a job at Troy in January. His overall record as a head coach is 117-48 in fourteen seasons at Hillcrest Tuscaloosa, Fairhope, Auburn and Tuscaloosa County. 2024 Season - Miles Holcomb leaves Southside Gadsden after three seasons leading the Panthers. His 2023 football team finished 8-3 and tied for the region championship with Moody and Leeds. Before taking over at Southside in 2021, Holcomb served as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach at Hoover and one year as offensive coordinator at Alpharetta High School in Georgia during the 2020 season. Holcomb graduated from Shorter University and landed his first head coaching job at Crossville for two seasons. Region 4 Huntsville - Mark Fleetwood in seven seasons at Huntsville led the Panthers to a 30-42 record and two playoff appearances. Several of the teams showed promise as the season began but none were able to post a playoff victory during his tenure at Huntsville. So the Panthers will be searching for just the sixth head coach since the 1984 football season this year. 2024 Season - Jimmy Gay spent the past five seasons as the offensive line coach at Muscle Shoals before accepting the head coaching job at Huntsville in January. He was the head coach at Parrish for two season where his 2003 team won the Class 1A state championship. Gay also served as the head coach at his alma mater Cordova for six seasons between 2013-2018. His overall record as a head coach stands at 60-36 in eight seasons at the two schools. | |
David Parker
AHSFHS.org
dparker@ahsfhs.org
Great Moments in Alabama High School Football History
The Morgan Academy Senators have appeared in 14 state championship games from 1984-2008, winning the title 11 times.
The Morgan Academy Senators have appeared in 14 state championship games from 1984-2008, winning the title 11 times.
