ADDISON, Ala. – In today’s world of instant gratification and what have you done for me lately, it begs the question, what does a high school football coach have to do to keep his job in this new age? Is it just winning? If that’s the case what kind of winning? State titles, region titles or county titles. Is six, seven or eight wins enough or just make the first, second or third round of the playoffs? If your players love you, does it matter if you win or lose? Tons of questions, but what is the right answer?
Take Addison’s David Smothers for instance. Coach Smothers graduated from Addison and played for the Bulldogs. He has family in the faculty, family who attend the school and deep ties to the community. His father coached at Addison. He has represented the school with class. David coached the 2024 football season suffering from a severe form of kidney disease. He showed up every day for the kids and even when he felt horrible, he was there for the school, the kids and the town. He never missed a game.
He has been the Head Coach of the Bulldogs for the past 13 seasons and has posted a 104-46 record. He has led the Bulldogs to two region titles and the playoffs in 12 of his 13 years. He has a winning record (16-9) against all three county rivals, Lynn, Winston County and Meek. He is also the third winningest head coach in Addison’s storied football history.
So why would you say this man lost his job on Feb. 10 by a unanimous vote of the Winston County School Board? No reason given, they just wanted to go in another direction. When I tried to contact Randy Lee, Addison’s representative on the board, no answer was given as to why the change was needed. Mr. Lee stated that, “It’s a personnel matter and I am not at liberty to speak to you about it. In order to talk about this, we would have to go into an executive session at a school board meeting.”
There were no allegations that he was too tough on the kids or coached them too hard. Not even that he was a bad coach and didn’t win. He wasn’t arrested, caught in any scandal, he was just fired.
Now the only answer to this question is that he is not popular with the players and specifically some parents in the community. I have spoken with numerous players and most of them are not overly fond of Coach Smothers. But when asked to explain why they don’t like him, I got a lot of “Just don’t like him.” No real specifics. Naturally, they love the assistants. News flash kids: you are supposed to. The assistants run interference between you and the head coach. The head coach is the dad, and the assistants are your older brothers or your favorite uncle.
After speaking with several fans in the community who wished to remain anonymous, Addison’s lack of physicality and toughness were brought up. Recent failures against county rivals was also brought up as well as soft practices without much hitting. My question is what is Addison football known for? The first thing I think of when I think of Addison is winning and I believe they have been winning pretty consistently lately with the exception of last season.
Yes, David will be the first to tell you that he does not have an outgoing personality. He is a man of few words. He does not “kiss tail” and is not ashamed to say that. He will also tell you that no one hated how the season ended last year more than him. It should also be stated that Addison was without their two-time all-state quarterback for the season as he recovered from an injury.
When I spoke with Coach Smothers, He was perplexed to say the least.
“All this started in early December (2024) when I was approached by my principal, Micah Smothers. He told me that the board was going to vote on my job status and I probably needed to talk with them. This was four business days before the meeting. I was never told that there was a problem with my job status,” Smothers said. “I called Coach Lee, (Addison school board representative) and he told me that he had a lot of complaints. When I asked about what type of complaints, I got no answer. I asked him, ‘had he investigated these complaints’, and he said no. I told him that this is the first time I have heard these complaints and that no one had come to me prior. I spoke with Jeff Scott (incoming school board superintendent) and he told me that he had heard that people were complaining that we had been down for the past couple of years. About a month passed and I finally got on the agenda to speak to them. So, after speaking with the school board and having to explain why I needed to keep my job, I was terminated. They do not have to give you a reason. My plan is to still teach here at Addison, and I wish the program nothing but the best. I know for a fact that they will not find a coach that loves this school and this program as much as I do.”
What I would like to know is what do the fans of Addison expect? Do they not realize that if you compare the two legendary hall of fame head coaches ahead of Smothers in wins, Aubrey Hicks’ 20-year record of 144-53-8, and Allen Stephenson’s 17-year record of 131-62, David compares quite favorably. Coach Hicks won 70% percent of his games, Coach Stepheson won 68% and Smothers clocks in at 69% right in the middle of them. The biggest difference is that both Coach Hicks and Coach Stephenson won state titles. Smothers outperforms both coaches when comparing their first 13-year records. Hicks stands at 81-39-9 with a title in his 16th year. Alabama did not have state playoffs his first 13 years. Stephenson stood at 96-50 with a title in his second year.
Both Coaches Hicks and Stephenson had a huge advantage over David. In the time that they coached Head Coaches were all mighty and powerful, able to do pretty much whatever they wanted and could coach you very hard. Practice was usually much harder than the actual games. What your coach said is what you did. Taking nothing away from either man, I know Coach Stephenson and my father played for Coach Hicks, and as different as those two were, there are no finer two men that ever walked the sidelines at Addison High School. But be honest, it was easier to coach then than it is today.
David has done himself no favor with his scheduling. He consistently plays against classification schools to challenge his teams. Every year the three games that he has control of, you can count on playing a larger class team. He has a 26-23 record against predominately 3A and 4A teams. His record could be much improved if he scheduled the Brilliants and Tharptowns of the world instead of playing bigger, harder and more challenging teams.
The last question I pose to you is WHO worth their salt would want this job if a graduate of the school with all his previously listed accomplishments gets fired with the record he has? I am truly perplexed by this move and I hope you can explain it to me.
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