COLUMN: Who will Enterprise’s next football coach be?

Speculating is fun and as I’m sure most of you have seen, the speculation on who the next Enterprise High School football coach will be has already begun. So, I figured I would join in on the fun.

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolute zero insider information on this – and if I did I wouldn’t be writing this – and any person named in this column is not an endorsement of that coach. I have no preference on who EHS hires, I just want to see the kids get the person that will be best for them and their futures. Also, me naming someone doesn’t even mean they are interested. Let’s be honest, if you’ve seen my record in the picking contest you can probably bet that none of these names will even be interested. Now, that that’s out of the way let the speculation begin.

Every time a big job opening comes up in this area my first thought goes to Ed Rigby. Rigby is the former state champion coach at Elba, who currently coaches at Eufaula. I’ve had the chance to see up close the respect Rigby demands from his players and his success is unquestionable.

Rigby won three region championships, a state championship and a state runner-up in his five years at Elba. As a high school coach in Alabama he’s never had a single team that missed the playoffs. His coaching pedigree includes a high school coaching career in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida along with college experience. Rigby was the offensive coordinator at both Jackson State University and Holmes Community College. Every job he’s had he’s filled his staff with a mix of young and veteran coaches – including former NFL players – that have helped him succeed. His wife is also the current women’s basketball coach at Troy.

Jed Kennedy would definitely have been on this list - and was before Tuesday - had he not already been hired by Dothan, as well.

A name that I’ve seen floated around social media – and a long shot in my eyes – is former Troy head coach Chip Lindsey. Lindsey obviously has ties to the area having served the past three years as head coach at Troy, but he also has deep high school connections in the state.

Lindsey, a Madison native, has served as head coach at Colbert Heights High and Spain Park High along with Lassiter High in Georgia. He was also previously the offensive coordinator at Hoover. For the past eight years, however, he’s primarily worked at the college level as an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and head coach.

The likelihood of a coach going from a $700,000 per year job to a high school position – even if it is one of the top jobs in the state – is likely not high. Additionally, Lindsey has never been a “long term” coaching solution at any place he’s ever been. His longest coaching tenure was his three years at Troy and his shortest was just over a month as offensive coordinator at Kansas.

Patrick Plott is one of the more respected young football coaches in the area and has led Carroll to back-to-back playoff appearances after two consecutive years missing the playoffs. Plott is also highly regarded for his time as a successful defensive coordinator at Auburn High. He also has a state championship under his belt. His 2013 Pickens County squad won the the Class 1A State Championship and in 11 years as a head coach, his teams have missed the playoffs just once.

The next person can be marked down as an extremely unlikely candidate – and controversial one – in Gulf Shores High School coach Mark Hudspeth. Hudspeth’s name would be controversial due to the way he departed both Louisiana University and Austin Peay University with NCAA sanctions at the former and accusations of “egregious personal conduct” at the latter.

Still, Hudspeth is arguably one of the most decorated football coaches in all of high school football in the state, though much of that success has occurred at the college level. Hudspeth was a successful assistant coach at Nicholls State, Delta State, Navy and Mississippi State but his biggest success came as a head coach at the college level where he led North Alabama to a 66-21 record in seven seasons with three appearances in the NCAA Division II Semifinals and turned Louisiana-Lafayette into one of the weakest teams in the Sun Belt to one of the top teams with four bowl wins and the school’s first Sun Belt Championship in over 10 years. He also led Austin Peay to an 11-4 record, an Ohio Valley Conference Championship and a deep run in the FCS Playoffs in 2019 before departing that school.

Hudspeth resigned before the 2020 season and took over as the new head coach at Gulf Shores in 2021, where he guided the Dolphins to a 6-4 record after the school won just eight games in the past six seasons combined.

Hudspeth’s defensive coordinator is also one of the most decorated coaches you’d find in any staff in the state in former Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. VanGorder is one of the older names I’ve listed here, at 62 years old, but his coaching resume is spectacular. VanGorder has been a defensive coordinator at both the college and NFL levels with the Atlanta Falcons, Auburn, Notre Dame, Grand Valley State Georgia, Louisville and Bowling Green. He’s also been a position/assistant coach at Central-Florida, Central Michigan, Western Illinois, Notre Dame, Georgia and Oklahoma State along with the New York Jets, as well. He spent one year as a head coach at Georgia Southern and three years at Wayne State.

VanGorder’s high school coaching career includes stops as an assistant coach at West Bloomfield High in his home state of Michigan and three head coaching stops in Florida at Boca Raton Academy, American Heritage School and Bocta Raton High School in the 1980s. The Gulf Shores defense gave up an average of 32 points per game in the previous four years before VanGorder’s arrival, and the 2021 defense gave up just 17 points per game.

Now, I know there are a few people – at least – that have gotten this far and are very angry that I have left one name off. Well, here you go. Jamey DuBose is one of the most well-respected and successful high school football coaches in Alabama in the past decade. Like Lindsey, though, I put him in the column of very unlikely candidates.

Still, DuBose has connections to this area as a Troy graduate and native of Opp and reportedly he had interest in the Enterprise job previously. DuBose won two Class 6A state championships – and one runner-up – at Prattville in his four seasons there and then proceeded to win a Class 7A State Championship and one runner-up at Central-Phenix City in his six years there. He also has nine region championships under his belt and all but one of his teams has made the playoffs in his 14-year head coaching career in Alabama.

Currently, DuBose is the head coach of Lowndes County in Georgia. In 2021, his Viking squad lost in the quarterfinals of the 7A State Playoffs. In 2020, Lowndes County lost in the semifinals. DuBose retired from the Alabama school system after leaving Central, meaning his return to the state would be highly unlikely.

Regardless of what names apply for the job and who EHS reaches out to, one thing is for certain. EHS Principal Stan Sauls – who is a former Elba football player and Enterprise football coach – and Superintendent Dr. Zel Thomas will look for the coach that is going to give the Wildcats a chance to not only win on the football field but continue to win in the classroom and outside of school. That I don’t have any doubts about.