Former Trinity coach Randy Ragsdale is returning to coaching, this time in the college ranks. Ragsdale has joined the staff of Coach Rob Gray at Faulkner University.
Ragsdale spent 28 seasons coaching at Trinity Presbyterian School, winning 242 games for the Wildcats. The Hall of Fame coach will serve as assistant head coach and director of player development at Faulkner.
"I'm excited about his experience. He's got 40-plus years of coaching experience. It's not really the coaching for me, it's more people experience and the different types of kids he has interacted with throughout his coaching journey. It's not really Xs and Os as much as it is the man he is and the reputation he has," Gray said of Ragsdale.
Ragsdale retired from coaching after the 2016 football season. He led the Wildcats to the 2003 AHSAA 4A state championship with a perfect 15-0 record. Trinity reached the playoffs 25 of the 28 seasons when Ragsdale was the head coach. He was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
"The word that comes to mind that I've always thought of is relationships. You've got to make the intentional choice – and I believe you make it each day – to build a relationship," Ragsdale said on the Faulkner University Facebook page. "That's done one day at a time and one person and a time. That's led by God's Holy Spirit just putting it right where it's supposed to be," Ragsdale said.
"That is the relationships that first start with myself. I'm under the authority of the Lord first but I'm also under the earthly authority of Coach Gray. I'm to be there to aid, assist, help, nurture, serve with him and then with his staff that he has put together and for us to build that one day at a time, one meal at a time, one meeting at a time and then to be able to take that and be able to discern and then go from there."
Faulkner opens the 2021 season on Sept. 4 against Southeastern University in Montgomery.