Alabama Football Coaches Association Announces Lifetime Achievement Winners

The Alabama Football Coaches Association is proud to announce three coaches who have been selected to receive our Lifetime Achievement Award. These men will be honored for their years of service at the ALFCA Coach of the Year Banquet next January in Montgomery.

The winners were nominated by a member of the Alabama Football Coaches Association, selected by a committee and verified by a vote of the ALFCA Board of Directors on July 23rd.

We congratulate the winners and their families of this most coveted award.

Hugh Fountain – Coach Fountain was a graduate of W.S. Neal High School and Troy State University where he lettered as a center and was a member of the 1984 National Championship team. He was a 38 year veteran of coaching who spent only one year as an assistant coach. He started his head coaching career in 1988 at Evergreen High School before signing on in 1989 at his alma mater W.S. Neal. His 1995 Blue Eagle team was outstanding, tying the school record for wins in a season by going 12-2. In 1996 he left to take the job at Charles Henderson where he spent 16 seasons and led his teams to 10 playoff appearances. He then joined the AISA at Escambia Academy. Fountain won two AISA state titles at EA and eight straight championships in track. Coach Fountain returned to Neal again in 2022 to finish his career. He is the winningest all time head coach at Neal, Charles Henderson and Escambia Academy and overall won 271 games. Coach Fountain was an ordained minister and had served at Flomaton First Baptist Church as both youth minister and associate pastor. Coach Fountain passed away in March of 2025 after a battle with cancer.

Phil Lazenby – A graduate of Bessemer High and Samford University where he played football, Coach Lazenby first joined the U.S. Army where he graduated first in his class from the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. During his service, he received two commendation medals and had tours of duty in Europe and Central America. He retired as a first sergeant. He began his coaching career at Jess Lanier before joining the Mountain Brook staff where he served as an assistant from 1981-1990. Coach Lazenby began his head coaching career in 1991 at Guntersville. He would stay there for six seasons before coaching one year at Southside Gadsden. He took over the Benjamin Russell program the following season where he led his teams to a 41-12 record and two state final appearances. In 2001, he left to take a position as an assistant at UMS Wright where he served as offensive line coach and strength coach. Coach Lazenby was a part of three state championship teams with the Bulldogs. In 2007 he ventured across the bay to Bayside Academy to spend 16 seasons as head coach. He changed the expectations of the Admirals program and led them to 87 wins and the 2015 state finals. He helped establish the Bayshore Christian program in 2023 and 2024 before returning to UMS Wright as an assistant in 2025. Coach Lazenby was elected to the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. He is known as a teacher of fundamentals and setting high standards on and off the field for his players.

Hal Riddle – One of the Birmingham area’s most respected coaches, Hal Riddle played quarterback in the mid 1970s at Hewitt Trussville High School before getting his education degree at Montevallo. Coach Riddle spent 18 years as an assistant football coach at Hewitt Trussville and Erwin before taking his first head coaching job with Erwin in 1993. His 1995 team won 10 games, and the area championship, which included an overtime win over eventual state champion Homewood. He spent one season at Mortimer Jordan before taking over the program at Clay-Chalkville in 1999. His first Cougar team went 12-3 and won the 6A State Championship over Lee Montgomery in overtime. Riddle was named 6A Coach of the Year after that campaign. In 2002 Coach Riddle took over the program at his alma mater Hewitt Trussville. He would spend 12 seasons as head coach leading the Huskies to 10 playoff appearances before retiring after the 2013 season to take a position in the central office of the Trussville City Schools. Coach Riddle’s overall head coaching record was 150-90.