Sparkman still without a football coach
It has been over a month since Roger Haynes resigned as the head football coach at Sparkman and the school still has not named a new head football coach.
Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Maurice Jones indicated in early May that a final decision had been made on who the new coach would be, but due to employment issues they were unable to bring him on board at that time.
Sources told the MCR that the school is waiting on a position to open up through retirement or resignation at the end of the school year before they can bring the new coach on board.
The team did not participate in any spring football practices. Schools are allowed up to 10 practices including a game beginning in May.
“We just didn’t feel it would be fair to the players to go through practices with a coach who they knew would not be their eventual head coach,” Jones said.
Haynes, who will remain at the school as a teacher, has been the football coach at Sparkman since 2003. During that time he has overseen the construction of the new on campus football stadium. Haynes was both the head coach and defensive coordinator.
Haynes’ teams had success early on in his tenure. The Senators won area championships in 2004 and most recently in 2006. But the program was unable to sustain that success and has slipped badly in recent years as rival programs such as Bob Jones has surged.
Sparkman finished the season 1-9 last season beating Buckhorn as their only win. The last two years Sparkman was beaten by Bob Jones 50-7 and 48-14.
The last time Sparkman beat Bob Jones was 2006 and has lost five straight to their county 6A rival. None of those games have even been close as Sparkman lost by a combined score of 210-54.
Sparkman Quarterback Club President Stan Chapman said that his organization is anxious for the new coach to come on board.
“We are going to continue to give parents the information that we can and when the new coach is named and rolls out his program then we will be there to support him as a quarterback club should,” Chapman said.
“You continually want to improve the facilities. Our facilities are good but we want to make them better,” Chapman said.
Among the recent improvements at the stadium are a new scoreboard and press box.
“We travel to other schools from the Birmingham area over to Florence and some teams have that extra level of support and we want that for our players. There were some updates to the weight room and the film capability that the coaches felt they needed. There was also some practice equipment that they wanted,” Chapman said.
The quarterback club engages in fundraising activities and organizes work projects in support of the program.
Chapman said he would like to see a new coach with “a passion for the game and the kid’s interest at heart. We need someone who can teach the game to the kids to execute. This should be an educational stepping stone. ”
“No one, including the previous coaching staff, was satisfied with the performance of the program so you could say it has slipped a bit,” Chapman said.
There is wide speculation that the new coach will be Ahmaad Galloway, a 2002 graduate of the University of Alabama. Galloway is best known as a running back from 1999-2002. He has 3 years of experience as a high school assistant coach. He has also done some motivational speaking since his playing days ended.
Galloway is from Memphis, Tennessee and played at Millington Central High School.
His best year at Alabama was his junior season when he rushed for 881 yards and 6 touchdowns in Coach Dennis Franchione’s first year. He starred in Alabama’s 31-7 upset victory at Auburn by rushing for 130 yards.
His promising senior season ended during an early season game against Southern Mississippi when he suffered a knee injury that would cost him the entire season.
He has spent two seasons as an assistant football coach at Oak Mountain before going to Thompson High School in Alabaster in 2011.
