COACHING CHANGES
Deric Scott has moved from Vigor to become the head coach at Foley High School. Scott spent 8 seasons as an assistant at Foley, the last six as defensive coordinator. His best year at Vigor was 2018, when he took the Wolves to the 5A Championship game and finished 13-2.
Scott Rials has left Luverne to accept the job at Baldwin County High School. Rials takes over a 6A Baldwin County program which has had two winning seasons in 15 years. Rials won 34 games in his last 3 years at Luverne, losing to Fyffe 21-19 in the 2018 2A Championship game. He has also been head coach at South Montgomery Academy, Elba where he spent 9 seasons and won the 2011 2A Championship, and 2 seasons as head coach at Satsuma.
Assistant Coach Ryan Locke has been named the new head man at Etowah, replacing John Holladay. “This is a huge blessing and honor. There are very few programs and communities with as much history, tradition, and passion as the one at Etowah High School!” Locke said. Etowah has been in the playoffs every year since 2009 and finished 9-2 last season.
Headland’s Danny Raines has resigned to retire from the public school system and take the job at Morgan Academy in Selma. He spent three years with the Rams, taking them to a 10-2 record and a playoff win in 2018. The 10 wins were the most at Headland since 1988 and the team’s turnaround record was the best in the state. “I loved my time at Headland,” Raines said. “It has been a real blessing here the last three years. I loved my players, the community, the entire faculty and staff, the parents, the trainers and the media here.”
CORONAVIRUS -WHEN WILL FOOTBALL RETURN
There are a lot of questions surrounding the return of high school football that many coaches have been asking. The AHSAA Central Board meets on April 23rd but the feeling is that it is too early still to know what direction fall athletics will take as we move into summer. So here are some of the questions that many coaches have been asking that no one has answers to at the moment.
How long is needed to get teams in physical conditioning to play the season?
What is the latest teams could come together and still start the season on time?
What is going to be the heat acclimation of players when they return to practice?
Is it possible to start the season 1- 3 weeks late and still play the entire season?
If a delay occurs, how will that affect the playoffs?
Will we see more injuries due to missed training, conditioning and no spring practice?
Will there be some health guidelines in place when players report, like taking their temperature to see if they might have some sickness?
When teams go back this summer, will we be able to practice everyone or will practices be limited to smaller groups?
Will teams be given extra practice days in pads or shells during preseason practice?
Will we see a reduced number of players report when practice begins?
Meanwhile, coaches help and encourage players to continue workouts on their own until we have some answers. But that could be several weeks away considering this unpredictable health crisis.