The ALFCA Convention of 2019 will go down as possibly the best of the 14 previous conventions. Over 600 member coaches attended the two day event in Montgomery. This is not counting the numerous college coaches from all over the Southeast, the vendors, speakers, media and numerous guests who attended.
The Friday night lineup was the best ever and did not disappoint. David Cutcliffe of Duke opened the convention with a stirring talk about what his staff has done to help make the Blue Devils competitive in the ACC. He talked about the values that are emphasized and also did a little QB tutoring at the end.
Mississippi State’s Joe Moorhead followed and got right to the film with some spread offensive concepts that he has had success with at Penn State and with the Bulldogs.
Alabama’s Nick Saban and Steve Sarkisian came next with Sarkisian discussing some passing game concepts. As usual, the ALFCA Social was held following the last session and continued for quite a while as coaches got an opportunity to visit with other coaches.
Thursday opened with a big crowd at 8:30 AM to hear UAB’s Bill Clark talk about how he and his staff had created a culture of winning from scratch for the Blazers. Auburn’s Gus Malzahn introduced Travis Williams next who discussed Auburn linebacker play.
Former Auburn Coach Gene Chizik was the subject of the Masters session this year at the convention. Coach Chizik gave some great insight into some of the important things in coaching and detailed about some of his job at ESPN.
After lunch on Friday, the high school coaches took the stage with four speaking at a time. All sessions had great attendance. The General Assembly followed. Official Jeff Hilyer talked about the NFHS getting prepared to go to a 40 second clock rather than the normal 25 second clock. AHSAA assistant director Kim Vickers came and discussed the two law suits taking place and their effect on all the schools of the AHSAA and the ramifications of those suits for the association.
The ALFCA Coach of the Year Banquet was held on Saturday with record attendance. Awards were presented for scholarship recipients, Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year, as well as Lifetime Achievement Winners. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Winners that were honored included Jay Brown, Bob Newton, Randy Ragsdale and Steve Savarese.
Many thanks to Executive Director Jack Wood, Executive Assistant Jennifer Byrd, our sponsors and many others who were such a big part of making the 2019 ALFCA Convention such a success. If you have suggestions to make next year’s meetings even better, please contact Jack Wood or President Terry Curtis.