Hood steps up from coach to ‘Dad’

Clay-Chalkville High School head football coach Jerry Hood said it wasn’t a day of endings but one of beginnings.

That’s how he approached the resignation of his post as football coach as he transitions to a position he calls “Dad.”

Hood, the winningest coach in school history who led the Cougars to the 2015 Class 6A State Championship and to the state finals in 2016, met with his team the morning of March 1 and then with members of the media that afternoon.

Hood said he’d been thinking about it for a couple of years. Although still young, his family isn’t waiting for him. He has four children, all of whom are in school and play sports, and he wants to be able to be part of that.

As of this year, he hit the milestone of 25 years in the Teachers’ Retirement System, which he said has afforded him the economic opportunity to do some things.

The 48-year-old coach didn’t announce his retirement from coaching yet.

“I’ll let you know June the first,” he said. 

Some coaches take those 25 years and retire; some start a new career; some go to another state and coach another number of years and accumulate more retirement benefits.

He said even he doesn’t know what he might do in a few years, but for now he’s certain it’s time to be with his wife, Amanda, who is principal at Mountain Brook High School, and their four children — Olivia, Christian, Daniel and Vica. 

The couple married in 2005 and became a family in 2008 when the couple adopted the four biological siblings from the Ukraine.

It’s also a good time for Clay-Chalkville’s football program, Hood said, to step away in March for them to adjust amply to have success. Timing-wise, Hood said, “That’s what is most important.” 

“Luckily, God has made it where I’ve got the eligible number of years, so I have some options, and I’m thrilled to be able to do this,” he said. 

“It’s an opportunity for me to be a dad on a full-time basis, and it’s as simple as that. There’s no unhappiness here at Clay,” Hood said, who just completed his eighth season as head coach at CCHS. “We’ve had an incredible experience, but I am looking forward to being a great dad and being available a little bit more.”

Hood has a record of 75-26 by the AHSAA at Clay, but that doesn’t count his on-field record of 84-17. Nine wins were forfeited in 2011. His official career record is 103-52 overall (112-43).

He helped start the Clay-Chalkville program in 1996-1997 as Toney Pugh’s assistant, watched Clay win its first state championship in 1999 while he was Pugh’s assistant at Oak Mountain, then returned in 2009 to reboot a program that had slipped few notches.

His Cougars won eight, nine, 10, 12 and 10 games again on the field in a run that was crowned by a 29-1 two-year dominance. The 2014 team was 15-0 and 6A state champions, the 2015 team 14-1 and runners-up. 

2016 was a retooling year, with plenty of underclassmen who fought a hard schedule to 6-5 and a playoff spot.

With talent aplenty, roots planted, was it hard to walk away?

Surprisingly, “It’s not hard at all,” Hood said. “I love my family, and I love my kids. I’ve poured into other people’s children for 26 years and had the time of my life doing it, but now it’s time for me to just be a regular guy and a regular dad, so I’m excited about it.

“And I’m excited for what’s going to happen here at Clay. We have an incredibly qualified amount of guys here who are ready to lead this program, and I hope they will be strongly considered. I’m excited about these next three years at Clay-Chalkville; it has the ability to do some special things.”

He said he told the team a few things he wouldn’t share with the media, but as always he tried to make it a learning session for them.

“I explained it to them, to hopefully teach a life lesson, and what I want them to learn from this is: Football is an outstanding sport, and I love it, I really do love it. And who knows? One day I may be back in it. But if there’s a time you can enhance your role as a father, you need to do that. And I said I hope you do it for your kids and your family.

“I’m just blessed that I’m in this position, and I can do it. I am excited to watch all of my kids play all of their sports and give full time to that.”

He said he was in “pregame speech mode” when he talked to the team and managed to keep his emotions pretty well in check. “It was like it should be. This is not an ending; this is a celebration, and we’re moving forward, and I expect great things from you.”