John Mothershed is a 1981 graduate of Sheffield High School where he was a wrestler and a football player and a 1985 graduate of the University of North Alabama. Mothershed went back to Sheffield as an assistant coach for two years before taking a job at Deshler High School in 1987. He would coach there for the rest of his career.
Coach Tandy Gerald hired him to be the offensive and defensive line coach. By 1988, he was defensive coordinator at Deshler. In 1990, the Tigers went 15-0 and won the 4A State Championship by defeating T.R. Miller 28-27 in overtime. The following year, they won every game and made the finals again before falling to Miller in the championship game.
When Coach Gerald retired in 1994, John became the head coach of the Deshler Tigers. In 19 seasons, his teams won 10 or more games in 13 of those seasons. He amassed a record of 201-53, winning back to back state championships in 1998 and 1999. On five other occasions, Mothershed took the Tigers to the Super 6 finals.
His Deshler teams made the playoffs every year winning fourteen region titles. From 2000-2013, his teams scored in every game. Four of his teams had undefeated regular seasons.
Using a 40 defense and a Wing T offense, Mothershed preached his philosophy to the Deshler players year after year. During his tenure he made Deshler one of the true powers of Alabama high school football.