Minutes of the ALFCA Summer Board Meeting

The board of directors of the Alabama Football Coaches Association met Thursday, July 23, 2026, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Montgomery for the annual meeting during the AHSAA Summer Conference.

Executive Director Jack Wood and President Richie Busby welcomed everyone, especially several new board members that were attending their first meeting.

AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon spoke about rules and reminded everyone that the rules year runs from June to June. Director of Football Brent Bedsole spoke about the importance of communication and new Private School Director Buster Daniel spoke to the board as well about his new role.

David Partridge from Pure Game Sports spoke for a few minutes. Pure Game is one of the association’s sponsors. He talked about how they could help with membership registration, the Coach of the Year Banquet as well as other ways to help the association and schools.

Toney Pugh talked about the American Football Coaches Association and encouraged the board members to attend the AFCA Convention. The convention is scheduled for February 14-16, 2027, in Indianapolis. Indiana. The date in February is part of the new NCAA calendar as the convention had historically been in mid-January. The AFCA is running a $25 membership special for high school coaches which includes access to the AFCA Video Library.

Coach Wood reported that the finances of the Association were in good order. He reported on the status of the association’s sponsors.

There was also a discussion more in depth about the new membership timelines using an early bird registration that included both membership and convention registration.  Board members were given cards with the QR code to hand out at the football rules meeting to hopefully get schools to take advantage of that rate.

The annual ALFCA “Mail Out” to all schools will be sent mailed September 1st, after the “early bird” registration is complete.

The board discussed the 2027 ALFCA Convention dates, time for the board meeting, as well as some high school speaker suggestions.

Coach Busby set new committees to work the coach of the year awards and there was discussion about how to solicit more nominations from the coaches.

The board discussed the new classifications as well as the new format for the state championships in Mobile. Coach Wood said that the annual Championship Social will be held on Thursday and the board meeting on Friday. The times and places will be announced later.

Past President Terry Curtis discussed the Lifetime Achievement Award and made three recommendations to the board from the Lifetime Committee. He gave some details about each of the nominees. The board voted to select the following coaches to receive the awards at the ALFCA Coach of the Year banquet in Montgomery in January.

·      Hugh Fountain

·      Phil Lazenby

·      Hal Riddle

With there being no more business, the meeting was adjourned.