Brendt Bedsole Hopes to Build on Football Relationships in New Job with AHSAA

For Brendt Bedsole, his career in coaching and athletics has always been about the relationships. As he enters his new job with the Alabama High School Athletic Association, he believes building on those relationships will be a critical factor in his success.

Bedsole began his job as AHSAA assistant director on March 2nd. His sports responsibilities will be football, baseball, and bowling. It has been a busy few weeks as he transitioned from the high school relations and NFL liaison job at Auburn University to the AHSAA.

“It’s been a busy time. I am amazed at how much there is to do in this office,” he said. “I will feel a lot better after I have been through everything a year from now.”

Change is nothing new to Brendt Bedsole. His stepfather was in the construction business, so his family moved constantly during his growing up years. At all those stops, there was a coach that inspired him with his passion and enthusiasm. It was one of the most consistent things in his life, so it was no surprise that he chose coaching as a career.

“I am where I am today because of the coaches who invested in me,” he said. “Charles Sikes, my high school coach at Lanier, Coach Dye and Joe Whitt at Auburn were just inspirational. In fact, if it wasn’t for Joe Whitt, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said.

When Tommy Tuberville went to Auburn as head coach before the 1999 season, Whitt called Bedsole and told him he should leave his job as an assistant coach at Trinity Presbyterian and take the graduate assistant job with the Tigers. There was a considerable difference in pay, and he had just married his wife Beth. So as much as he wanted to take the job, Bedsole turned it down -  twice. But Whitt wouldn’t quit. The next call Bedsole got was from Tommy Tuberville.

“Joe says you are the guy we need,” Tuberville said. “You need to bring your wife and come on over here and meet with us.”

A few days later, Brendt Bedsole was an Auburn Tiger again.

“That was just God saying ‘this is where you are supposed to be’, he said.  Auburn was home as he had been a walk on there in the mid 80’s during the height of the Pat Dye era.

Bedsole’s coaching journey has been extensive. In addition to Auburn, he has worked at Samford, Troy, Trinity, Murray State, Hoover High School, South Alabama and Spanish Fort High School in a career that has lasted over 30 years. Some of that was on the field coaching and some was in administration. That’s a lot of miles and a lot of relationships in the coaching profession.

AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon was excited to bring him on board.

“Coach Bedsole brings with him a wealth of experience,” Harmon said. “He has already developed relationships with many of our member school athletic programs. His experience as a coach and administrator includes skills that will be tremendous assets for our member schools.”

During his first week on the job, Bedsole worked with J.T. Lawrence (AHSADCA Director) and Tara Osborne (Flag Football Director) in setting the schedule for this year’s football championship week. There were a lot of things to consider, including the fact that Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile had only two locker rooms instead of four.

“There are a lot of details, including that we will need to clean the locker rooms between games,” Bedsole said. “We will have only two football games per day. With the change in the number of classifications, there will be eight games played over four days, Wednesday through Saturday. With any change comes challenges but change also brings new opportunities.”  The flag championships will take place on Tuesday in the Port City.

Bedsole believes that the city of Mobile will embrace the opportunity of hosting the championships, and the teams and fans will love coming to Mobile. He has already begun discussions with the Mobile Sports Authority about making the championships a special event for everyone that week.

“The size of the two stadium venues we have now in Mobile and Birmingham make for a great place to watch the football championships,” he concluded.

Part of Bedsole’s AHSAA duties will include working as a member of the Eligibility Committee, the Incident Committee, as well as head of the Championship Committee for all 17 sports. He understands that although the member schools make the rules through the AHSAA legislative process, it is the job of the association to enforce them.

“You really have to be here to understand how many things must get done to run athletics in our state,” Bedsole said. “Rule enforcement is just a small part of what we do, but it has great importance. We are here to make sure that athletics runs as smooth as it can in the state. Helping schools to understand the rules that we have all made is an essential part of our job.”

Bedsole said there is a lot to like about high school football in the state of Alabama. It will take him a year before he understands what all the issues are that need some work. But he wants the football coaches in the state to know that they have a friend in Montgomery who wants the game to grow and is willing to listen to their concerns and suggestions.

“We really need to listen more than we talk,” he said. “We need to hear from the coaches. But any changes we make to the game need to be good for everyone. What might be good for a 6A school may not be good for the smaller schools,” he said. “But I am committed to listening.”

One area he wants to work on is the relationship between the coaches and the officials.

 “We have to understand that we are all in this together,” he commented. “Our coaches must understand that the officials are not the enemy. They are a crucial part of the game.”

He would like to use the ALFCA to help improve those relationships.

“We need to bring the coaches and officials together and talk face to face. The ALFCA Convention in Montgomery would be a great place to start that conversation,” Bedsole said. “Maybe get everyone together at a social or invite one of our best officials to speak to the coaches. I believe we have a lot of common ground that we can build some bridges to make our game better.”

Bedsole said that the number of football officials has grown since the Covid days which is a positive sign.

“But if we don’t treat them right, that number will shrink in the days to come,” he said.

Bedsole said that he has been a great fan of the ALFCA and has attended the convention for several years. He said that it is “imperative” that the AHSAA and the football coaches association continue to work together and have a strong relationship.

One of his football friends is ALFCA Executive Director Jack Wood. The two talk on a regular basis and he is excited about working with Coach Wood.

“Jack has made the ALFCA one of the great coaching organizations in the nation. I will be calling on him for help and advice as we move forward,” Bedsole said.

Bedsole says that he wants to be able to come to the ALFCA Convention and spend the two days meeting and getting to know all the football coaches.

“I would love to have a question-and-answer session or work session with our football coaches at the convention each year,” he said. “We need to give them some answers and listen to their ideas. If someone has a new idea that might help the game, I would love to bring it back to the office and discuss it with our staff,” he said. “What we need is more face to face discussion between the coaches and the AHSAA and the ALFCA Convention would be a great place to do that.”

Brendt Bedsole has loved football and still has a great passion for the game. He is excited about his job at the AHSAA and promises to pour all his efforts at keeping Alabama high school football highly regarded throughout the nation. And continue to build those important relationships.

ALFCA Executive Director Jack Wood may have put it best.

“In Brendt Bedsole we have a friend who is committed to high school football in our state. I know we will be able to work together to do great things for the teams, players and coaches throughout Alabama.”

Brendt and his wife Beth have two children, Sarah Catherine, 21 and Wilson, 15.