1 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
2 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
3 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Eugene Dallas introduces Stuart Floyd as the new head football coach for the Cougars during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
4 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Eugene Dallas introduces Stuart Floyd as the new head football coach for the Cougars during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
5 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
6 of 17
Photo courtesy of Stuart Floyd
Stuart Floyd won the 2023 Class 6A state championship with Clay-Chalkville as the offensive coordinator.
7 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, poses for a photograph with quarterback Aaron Frye following a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
8 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
9 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
10 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, talks with players following a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
11 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
12 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
13 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
14 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
The Cougar marching band plays as Stuart Floyd is introduced as the new head football coach for Clay-Chalkville in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
15 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Football players gather in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School for the announcement of Stuart Floyd as the new head football coach for the Cougars on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
16 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
17 of 17
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Stuart Floyd, the new head football coach for the Cougars, speaks to the media during a press conference in the auditorium at Clay-Chalkville High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
CLAY – A memory can sometimes shine as bright as a ring.
Three rings, to be exact.
The new Clay-Chalkville High School head football coach, former Cougars offensive coordinator Stuart Floyd, won a state championship ring as a player at Clay-Chalkville in 1999, then was a part of two more state titles as the offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2023.
But 2021, the other of the four years that Clay-Chalkville has claimed state supremacy, Floyd was the head coach at Mortimer Jordan High School. He did, however, find his way to the Clay-Chalkville side of the Protective Stadium field for that state title game against Hueytown. He saw dozens of familiar faces, hugged folks he hadn’t seen since his departure from Clay-Chalkville after the 2016 season.
“It was like no time had passed,” Floyd said this week. “I don’t know. Something about that night. It just still felt like home, even though I wasn’t there. I think that was kind of the first little step in my head of, ‘Maybe you could at some point get back to that.’”
He’s staying home. The Jefferson County Board of Education approved Floyd’s promotion to head coach Thursday, succeeding Drew Gilmer, who left to take the Hoover High School head coaching job after leading the Cougars to an 81-12 record and two state championships in seven seasons.
Floyd, the son of two Tarrant educators, moved into the Clay-Chalkville school zone in time for his sophomore year of high school, the year after Clay-Chalkville High School opened in 1996. Many of his friends, including his girlfriend who later became his wife, attended Hilldale Baptist Church in Center Point and chose to attend the new high school. Floyd followed suit. He quarterbacked the Cougars to a 12-3 record and state championship in 1999, earning All-State honorable mention honors as a punter.
“I just wanted to do it and be around my friends that I was with all the time at church,” Floyd said of the move. “Moved out there and I definitely did not foresee the success we would have in that short period of time at all.”
Floyd spent 10 years coaching in the Clay-Chalkville program. He was the Clay-Chalkville Middle School head coach for two years before becoming the assistant wide receivers coach at the varsity level for two more years. He then spent 2011 through 2016 as the offensive coordinator, during which time the Cougars averaged 41 points per game, won the 2014 Class 6A state championship, and finished runner-up in Class 6A in 2015. In his six seasons as offensive coordinator, the Cougars compiled a 58-19 record, which was 67-10 before nine wins in 2011 were forfeited due to an ineligible player participating.
“I distinctly remember me being a middle school coach and Coach [Jerry] Hood telling me he was going to bring me up and be the varsity receiver coach I thought was the biggest thing in the world,” Floyd said. “I never thought it possible that I might be a coordinator one day, and definitely did not say, ‘Hey, you’re going to win a couple state championships as a coordinator.' That never crossed my mind one time.”
After the 2016 season, Floyd left to become the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator at Hewitt-Trussville High School for two seasons. He then spent 2019 through 2021 at Mortimer Jordan High School, the first two years as offensive coordinator and the 2021 season as the head coach. Floyd was the offensive coordinator at Springville High School in 2022 before returning to Clay-Chalkville in 2023, a season that ended with a 14-0 record and Class 6A state championship.
“I really think that God makes all things work together,” Floyd said. “For the way the journey went, I could have never, never foreseen and I never really thought I would ever come back to Clay. I just didn’t, for whatever reason. Every door possible in this situation opened up, so it was definitely a no-brainer.”
Floyd’s return to coordinate the offense in 2023 was well timed. Clay-Chalkville needed a quarterback, and five-star defensive back prospect Jaylen Mbakwe, now enrolled at the University of Alabama, stepped up to play the position for the first time since before his varsity career. Mbakwe put up gaudy numbers with his arm and legs en route to a finalist spot for the Mr. Football award.
“Clay-Chalkville is in great hands with Coach Floyd as the head coach,” Mbakwe said. “He’s a great guy, a great offensive mind. He’s going to keep the right coaches around him to stay at the top. You can most definitely watch out for Clay this upcoming fall.”
Social media had been abuzz with chatter about who the next head coach would be after Gilmer’s departure earlier this month. Names were pontificated, various strategies discussed, opinions typed across Facebook news feeds. Former players, however, seemed to land on the same name.
“Coach Floyd has mentored many great football players on and off the field,” said Terelle West, a star running back on that 2014 state championship team. “The most important part about that statement is ‘off the field.’ He’s heavily involved in the community, in the kids’ lives, and in the family lives of the community. His kids were raised in Clay. They grew up around us. They’re like a family as well. After saying all that, not to mention he’s a winner. He’s a great football coach. He has produced talent at every level: CFL, NFL, and Arena League.”
Quintez Square, a Clay-Chalkville High School senior, served as Floyd’s assistant last season. He learned a lot.
“Leadership, faith, and he really shows his faith to the team,” Square said.
Hood, the head coach at Leeds High School, was an assistant on the Clay-Chalkville staff when Floyd was a sophomore and junior, and the Cougars head coach when they won a blue map in 2014.
“He has a long history with Clay-Chalkville,” Hood said. “We brought Stuart up [from coaching middle school] because obviously I had known Stuart and thought he could do it. He coached receivers for us, and I kind of told him back at that time you need to learn all you can from Coach [Shawn] Sutton, because we want you to do this one day, and he progressed properly and became just a heck of an offensive coordinator for us.”
One of the first quarterbacks Floyd worked with as a coach was Hayden Moore, who went on to play at the University of Cincinnati and then in the Canadian Football League. Moore called Floyd “one of my favorite coaches of all time in my career.”
“Floyd is who got me ready for college ball,” Moore said. “I was lucky enough to have him as a football and baseball coach in middle school as well as high school. He has worked hard to get to where he is and deserves everything.”
Willie Miller was a sophomore quarterback at Clay-Chalkville in 2016, Floyd’s final season as offensive coordinator before returning in 2023. Miller’s mental side of the game, he said, improved with Floyd’s tutelage.
“They are getting a good man,” Miller said. “He has impacted my life so much.”
Floyd’s hire becoming official in late January means the honeymoon will be a short one. There will be assistant hires to make, workouts to schedule, plans for spring practice to be made. Immediately following Thursday’s press conference at Clay-Chalkville High School, Floyd was off to Montgomery for the Alabama Football Coaches Association Convention in Montgomery to hear new Crimson Tide head football coach Kalen DeBoer and others speak.
“I'm happy for him,” Hood said. “I love his family. And I know this, there's no question that he'll be a hard worker and he'll do what's in the best interests of Clay-Chalkville. Hopefully he’ll hire some good folks and continue the great tradition that is Clay-Chalkville football.”
