It was all very new to everyone, but the Alabama Football Coaches Association feels like a winner after this past weekend's virtual clinic and Coach of the Year Banquet.
"We were all disappointed that we couldn't have the convention," ALFCA Executive Director Jack Wood said. "Everyone missed just the gathering of friends and colleagues that makes this weekend so special every year. But I thought the virtual clinic turned out really well for our first go with that sort of thing."
The virtual clinic on Friday featured Nick Saban and Bill O'Brien of Alabama, Bryan Harsin of Auburn, UAB Coach Bill Clark, Jax State's John Grass and Southern Miss defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong. Rounding out the lineup that ran from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM was a number of our state's finest high school coaches. Coach Saban answered questions from viewers to give everyone a different perspective from the normal clinic.
The clinic was free to all ALFCA members. Coaches who missed the clinic or want to go back and watch some of the presentations again can still use the members code to enter. Coaches should go to alfca.coachesclinic.com to register and see the presentations.
The Coach of the Year Banquet was more spread out and didn't have quite the normal attendance, but went off without a hitch. "It was our 15th banquet and it was one of our best," ALFCA Terry Curtis said. "We know that some could not attend because of virus issues, but it was great to still be able to honor a group of coaches that achieved some great things this fall under difficult circumstances, as well as honor the scholarship winners," he said. "We were able to do videos for the all of the Lifetime Achievement winners this year and they were great. The videos really helped make our banquet a little more special."
There were 23 scholarships awarded this year. The Lifetime Achievement Award videos can been seen on alfca.com.
"We hope to have a return of the complete convention next January", Coach Wood said after the banquet. 'That's certainly what we are going to be working toward very soon."