By By Tim Cottrell
Thursday night at the monthly meeting of the Escambia County Board of Education, the hiring of Kyle Davis as new head football coach and athletic director at Escambia County High School was approved. Coach Davis comes to Atmore from Geraldine High School in Geraldine, Ala.
Davis replaces Ted Darby, who was hired February 17 and then promptly resigned April 11. Darby had been hired to replace Marty McDole, who paced the sidelines at ECHS the previous two seasons.
Davis, 25, is a graduate of Alexandria High School, where he played on two state championship football teams – 1995 and 1997. The 1995 Alexandria team defeated T.R. Miller in the AHSAA 4A State Championship game. The game was played in a cold rain, and the field was thick with mud. That game is often credited with bringing about the Super Six Championships at Legion Field in Birmingham.
While at Alexandria High School Davis was an All-State baseball player, and went on to Huntingdon College on a baseball scholarship. In 2001 he began coaching at Prattville High School as an assistant, and was an assistant at Wetumpka the following year. He was hired as a head coach in 2003 at Geraldine, and was also head baseball coach.
Following the board meeting, Escambia County Superintendent Buck Powell endorsed the new coach.
"He's a young man with not a lot of experience," Powell said. "But he is mature beyond his years. He's worked under some great coaches. I feel he's the right man for the job."
Davis will report to work Monday at ECHS, and look for full coverage of his first days on the job in upcoming issues of the Advance.