By By Chandler Myers
With Blue Devils Head Coach Kyle Davis being relieved of his duties as head coach, all heads will be turning to see who the next person is that will take control of the football program.
One thing that is evident is that the program is in much better shape than when Davis took it over five years ago.
He leaves the next head coach with several athletes and a great dual-threat quarterback that will be sought out by several colleges over the course of the next year.
The rumors of the who the next head coach will be are sure to spread like wildfire, but more than likely only one person knows the truth about who the next coach will be, but he might not even know at this point.
Principal Harvey Means might already have the man in mind that he wants to hire for the job.
Hopefully, he makes a wise decision and does not bring in someone who has already put a program into shambles.
Maybe, he will luck out and land a coach who has had success and wants the challenge of building up this school’s football program even more.
The coach could come from outside of the county or possibly the state.
There is also a chance that an assistant coach from Davis’ staff would be promoted for the job. If that were to happen, I would hope that the man in that case to get the job would be defensive coordinator Robert Smith.
Smith has shown he has the respect of the Blue Devil players, which is something that is needed in order to keep things under control.
If the the new coach is from outside the area, he will need to implement the right system for his athletes as to utilize their speed.
The speed is what will lead to the success that Davis and his staff were sure to have going into next season’s return to Class 4A.
Whoever ends up with the job will have a heck of a time gaining support from a skeptical community.
He will need to have “Rhino Skin” to endure the criticism that could come with just one loss.
Maybe the community of Atmore will give the new coach a chance to get his feet wet before sinking their teeth into him.
There are a lot of good people in Atmore, so I hope they show the new guy that he has support from the beginning.
Otherwise, it will be back to the old M.O., looking for a new head coach in the next year or two, which is something that will just push this program back into obscurity.
Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at sports@atmoreadvance.com.