The board of directors of the Alabama Football Coaches Association met on Friday, December 6th at 8:30 AM with Executive Director Jack Wood at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame offices in Birmingham for the annual Super 7 meeting.
Present were: Executive Director Jack Wood, Executive Assistant Jennifer Byrd, former president Jamie Riggs, President Terry Curtis (UMS Wright), Vice President Richie Busby (Helena), 2nd Vice President Andro Williams (Danville), as well as district board members Matt Geohagan (Bibb County), Steve Smith (Westbrook Christian), Steve Mask (Theodore), Toby Greene (Rehobeth), Kenny Morson (Florence), Aryvia Holmes (McAdory), Keith Etheredge (Auburn), Greg Patterson (Hueytown), Bob Godsey (Madison Academy), Kevin Smith (Stanhope Elmore), Jake Garrett (Hewitt Trussville) and Deric Scott (Foley).
Coach Wood introduced Tad Snider, the executive director of the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center, who welcomed the board and talked about the desire of the City of Birmingham to host the Super 7 every year if possible.
He then introduced Scott Myers, director of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, who welcomed the board to the facility and offered his help with anything they might need. Coach Wood also thanked Toney Pugh, director of the Birmingham Athletic Partnership for his help with the Thursday night ALFCA social at Super 7 and also his help with ALFCA online membership.
Coach Wood relayed to the board that he has been named to an American Football Coaches Association committee for the southeast. That committee serves as a link between the high schools and the AFCA. He had a conference call that day with the committee about NIL and the possibility of more Friday night college games in the future.
Coach Wood reported to the board that the finances were in very good shape. Sponsors were up to date with their payments and many of them were looking forward to the upcoming convention. He also said that the association had a new sponsor coming on board in Ace Video Boards. He reminding the board that all finances go through a Birmingham accounting firm and the ALFCA receives a quarterly financial report from that firm. Coach Wood also said that he wants to form a financial board made up of President Terry Curtis and two more board members to keep the board more aware of the financial issues of the association going forward.
He also went through a list of donations the association has made to schools and individuals for funerals and catastrophic injuries over the past few months. The ALFCA also donates $2,000 to NextGen, the organization that does a Saturday clinic in June in Birmingham to prepare young assistants for head coaching positions.
Coach Wood and Coach Curtis then encouraged the board members to attend the annual American Football Coaches Association Convention in Charlotte. The association gives each coach a stipend to attend.
He also told the board that the association has partnered with Pure Game Sports to provide help with videos, graphics, computer and website issues. Coach Wood said he was excited about the partnership and he thought it would be good for both groups.
Next, Coach Wood told the board that beginning in 2025, the Lifetime Achievement Award nominations will be presented and voted on at the summer meeting in Montgomery. This would give us extra time to create the video slideshows that are presented for each winner as well as more time at the Super 7 meeting to deal with the Coach of the Year Awards.
He also reported that association membership was about normal for this time of year. It had been behind for most of the fall, but a number of schools and coaches had joined as the season has neared the end.
Coach Wood then turned the meeting over to assistant Jennifer Byrd who talked to the board about online membership and gave the board membership reports by districts. She relayed that we would once again have online membership for the convention. There would be a sheet going out in the convention packet explaining that procedure, complete with QR codes. She told the board that the association has a block of 110 rooms at The Embassy Suites in Montgomery at a rate of $138.00 per night. She said that usually all of those rooms would be taken by Christmas. Registration is $35.00 per coach and there will still be a $250 per staff rate for convention. Jennifer also said that the clinic brochures would go out in the mail on Tuesday, December 10th. They should arrive at schools before Christmas holidays. She also said that all of the ALFCA online brochure, registration, and banquet ticket forms will be on the website by Monday, December 9th. Banquet tickets are $25.00 each.
Coach Wood then interjected that the giveaway to each coach at the convention will be a very nice Nike ALFCA polo shirt. He also said that the Thursday night social at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame after the 5A game at Super 7 on Thursday night was a big success as well.
He reminded the board members that elections for the ALFCA board positions are two year terms and at the January convention Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 will be up for election.
Coach Wood then called on Jamie Riggs, past president of the association who helps with the the website, banquet, and other projects for the ALFCA. Coach Riggs said that this year each Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year will be presented with a short video slideshow. He said he would need help getting pictures, bios, etc., from each winner and gave the board members a sheet of what was needed and asked them to text that sheet to the recipients as soon as possible. The sheet had his contact information as well as where to send the pictures and bio. The deadline for the coaches to have the information in is Monday, December 23rd.
Coach Wood then called on the head of the Coach of the Year committees for each classification. They started the process of selecting the Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year Awards. After the selections, Jennifer covered with the board members who would contact the winners and get their ring size, which was needed ASAP.
Coach Wood then turned the meeting over to President Terry Curtis. He expressed that he was pleased with the work done so far by new AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon. Coach Curtis said he believed that Coach Harmon was trying to do the job right and that we need to get behind him as he deals with the many issues that are before the AHSAA. He said that there were some AHSAA staff leaving to accept other higher paying jobs and that the board needed to address that situation if we wanted to keep quality people in those positions. He finished by talking about football in Alabama. Coach Curtis said there are still a lot of concerns about the. number of transfers and the rumors that many of them do not constitute bona fide moves by AHSAA rules. He did say that part of the problem is that many administrators do not want to sign a complaint against another school who might have an ineligible player due to the fact that many of the administrators are friends and colleagues. But he said that he believes that the AHSAA will hopefully come up with some solutions soon. He finished with a discussion of the future of the Super 7 sites. Birmingham is a great option and they have expressed a desire to host Super 7 every year. Coach Curtis also said that Mobile and Montgomery were expected to put in bids.
With there being no other business, the ALFCA board adjourned.