Francis Marion has named Grady Griffin as the new head football coach. He is a graduate of Jackson-Olin and has worked as an assistant at Jackson-Olin, Erwin and Pickens County last season.
I was able to verify that Kyle Williams is the new football coach at Marion County. I called the school and the secretary could tell me that much but not much else about him.
That only leaves Hanceville and Madison County which have not announced a head coach yet and Hale County where no one answers the phone and apparently they have not discovered the advantages of email.
At the Jefferson/Shelby Media Days, in the updates it says the 'new Center Point coach' is Shawn Gregory. Couldn't find an article about it. When you look it up on c2c, it lists both him, and the coach we've listed Bennie Hill, as head coach. I'm guessing Gregory is the new head coach, and they haven't removed Hill's name.
Hanceville filled its vacant head football coaching position last week with the hiring of 1992 Hanceville graduate Craig Flanigan. Flanigan is the first African-American head coach in Cullman County history, according to Hanceville principal Jimmy Collins.
That only leaves us with Hale County missing a coach for this season as far as I know. I will try again to contact the school on Monday and hopefully someone will be around.
Hale County has a new coach and his name is Charles Moody. The secretary at the school could only tell me his name. I believe it is the same person who was the head coach at Aliceville from 2011-2014. I have found nothing to confirm this yet. But she knew for certain he is the new coach.
That completes our new coaches unless we missed one along the way. I would not be surprised if we did miss one or two.
I really appreciate everyone that helps with this project each off season. It is a huge help to me. I don't always respond to every post, but trust me, I see them all.
I missed a couple more changes. Leon Walker is the new coach at Autaugaville while James Brothers moves from the school over to Marbury. This is per the new coach at Autaugaville.
A list of coaching changes during the offseason is included in this article, based on information from the Alabama Sports Writers Association's prep committee. I see several we've found are missing from the list, but it might also include some correct spellings and the like.