EHS hires Ben Blackmon to lead football program

Enterprise High School made waves in Alabama high school football on Jan. 18 when the school approved the hiring of state champion coach Ben Blackmon to head up the Wildcat football program.

Blackmon was unanimously approved by the Enterprise City Schools Board of Education on Jan. 18 to replace former coach Rick Darlington, who is now the head coach at Deland High School in Florida. Enterprise Principal Stan Sauls called Blackmon the school’s No. 1 priority when beginning its coaching search.

“In this process of searching for a coach there was no doubt he was the No. 1 candidate as far as who we wanted to be here at Enterprise,” Sauls said. “His record speaks for itself but not only is he a great football coach but he is an even better family man. We are thrilled to have Coach Blackmon here today as the new head coach at Enterprise High School.”

Blackmon has been the head coach at Spanish Fort for the past seven years and has guided the Toros to a 77-18 record with four region championships, three appearances in the Class 6A State Championship and his team won the 2015 Class 6A State Championship. The Toros also earned playoff appearances in all seven of his seasons and won at least one playoff game each season.

Before coming to Spanish Fort, Blackmon spent four seasons as the head man at Gulf Shores from 2011 through 2014 and before that was the head coach at Greenville from 2007 until 2010. His 2009 Greenville team went 11-1 and won the region championship. Overall, Blackmon holds a 129-52 career record as a head coach and a 21-11 playoff record with five region championships, two state runners up and one state championship.

Blackmon said that his decision to come to Enterprise was a family decision.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for these people,” Blackmon said as he pointed to his wife and kids. “Everything we do, we do as a family. So, this was a family decision and we are all in.

“We’re excited about Enterprise and the opportunity afforded to us here in this community to build something great.”

Blackmon is a Montgomery native that graduated from R.E. Lee High School and went on to play quarterback at Troy University under legendary coach Larry Blakeney. He then earned a master’s degree from Auburn University before becoming an assistant coach at Opelika from 2001 until 2006.

Blackmon said that the rich football tradition at EHS was not lost on him and even pointed out that he had a high school season end in Enterprise.

“We know about the great tradition here and unfortunately one of my high school seasons ended right over there (in Bates Memorial Stadium) in 1993,” Blackmon said. “I know about Enterprise and I know about the rich tradition that has come before me and I take that as an honor to build upon it and try to prove to everyone that we can build championship caliber people, not just football players and athletes.

“We are in the people business and our whole goal is going to be to make our student athletes proud of Enterprise and proud of their community and to be great men when they leave this program and go into their extended lives.”

His brother, Brian, coached alongside Ben at Opelika and would eventually become the head coach at Opelika. Brian Blackmon now serves as as tight ends and special teams coach at the University of Central Florida. He previously served as special teams coach at Troy.