BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- AL.com's summer Pigskin Preview has already included a few major head-scratcher polls regarding some of the greatest nuggets of Alabama high school football history.
Greatest quarterback? Check. Pat Sullivan currently leads Kenny Stabler.
Greatest running back? Yep. This Vincent Edward Jackson guy is out in front.
Most overlooked record? Present. Clay County's 55 straight wins are piling up the votes.
Best coach to take over a new program? We thought of that, too. Our voters have locked in on Hoover's Josh Niblett with that one.
Shoot, we were just warming up. Today's AL.com poll is another doozy.
It centers on the finest men ever to call the plays, slap an "Attaboy" across the shoulder pads of a deserving player and tweet a whistle.
We've set the table for the debate on the state's greatest high school football coach of the modern playoff era. That's beginning with the merger of the state's major football divisions in 1966.
Voting will take place all summer and final results will be tallied when the poll closes in early August. The winner will be determined solely by online voting.
The candidates:
(Active) Buddy Anderson, Vestavia Hills (296-123 won-loss record)
Also: .706 win percentage, 2 state titles)
Career wins rank: 3rd all-time after 35 seasons
The state’s active leader in coaching victories is a no-brainer. He fits every possible metric of analysis. He’s won games and has longevity galore with 35 seasons as a head coach. Anderson’s teams have won two state titles and he has only coached at one school.
It is likely no longer a question of if, but when he will claim the state’s all-time record for victories across a coaching career.
He runs his offense and has not buckled to coaching trends over the years. Everything about Anderson’s program screams a Rebel yell of not only excellence, but stability. Just take a look at the tenure of his assistant coaches.
When comparing his worth to the other fine men on this list, Anderson’s career has always meant competition among the biggest schools in Alabama high school football.
(Active) Danny Horn, Clay County and Benjamin Russell (245-65 won-loss record)
Also: .790 win percentage, 6 state titles
Career wins rank: 14th all-time after 24 seasons
His 11-2 season at Class 5A Benjamin Russell in 2012 augments an already brilliant career by showing his methods work in the larger classes of AHSAA play.
Prior to that, Horn was brilliant at Clay County for 20 seasons. His teams won at the Class 1A, 2A and 3A levels in Ashland and stacked up six state championships in eight trips to the state finals.
His six state titles after 24 seasons are the most in AHSAA history by one coach. That’s one impressive resume bullet point, but there’s also that gaudy 55-game win streak his Panthers put up from 1994-1997.
That was part of a five-year run where his teams went 67-4 and won three Class 2A state championships.
Spence McCracken, Montgomery Academy, Lee-Montgomery and Opelika (280-81-1 won-loss record)
Also: .776 win percentage, 3 state titles
Career wins rank: 6th all-time after 30 seasons
There's a lot to cover regarding this well-respected gentleman who still spends his time as a volunteer assistant. That said, any summation of McCracken's career has to center on his 1986 team at Lee-Montgomery.
His Generals won Class 6A with a perfect 15-0 mark and finished that season rated No. 2 nationally by USA Today. That season saw McCracken win National Coach of the Year honors. That was one of three state titles for McCracken in a career than began at Class 1A Montgomery Academy and ended after a 14-year run at Opelika.
The Auburn graduate won all three of his state titles at Lee and his career timeline shows he won 10 or more games 15 times in his 25 seasons coaching Class 6A football in Alabama.
Rush Propst, Ashville, Eufaula, Alba, Alma Bryant and Hoover (176-61-0 in Alabama; now coaches in Ga.)
Also: .743 win percentage, 5 state titles
Career wins rank: Outside the Top 30 all-time after 19 seasons
The popular yet polarizing coach left Hoover amid controversy, but his role as architect of perhaps the state's most dominant program of all time cannot be understated. His Hoover teams captured national attention by winning five Class 6A state titles in a six-year span.
Propst took his career to another level when he arrived at Hoover. Once he got the job in 1999, he would go 110-13 (89.4 percent) at the helm of an offensive system that redefined high school football in Alabama. A 35-3 playoff record ensured his boys played for the 6A title in seven of the nine seasons he was at Hoover.
That record spikes at 114-9 when taking into account the games his teams won on the field that weren't wiped away due to forfeits during his final season in 2007.
The Jacksonville State graduate also won 10 or more games at Class 3A Ashville (12), Class 5A Eufaula (10) and Class 6A Alma Bryant (12) on his way to Hoover across 19 seasons in Alabama.
(active) Jamie Riggs, Opp and T.R. Miller (273-75-0 won-loss record in Alabama)
Also: .784 win percentage, 4 state titles
Career wins rank: 9th all-time after 27 seasons
The Alabama graduate has moved into the state's all-time elite while spending 24 of his 27 seasons dominating Class 3A and Class 4A football at T.R. Miller.
His Tigers won state titles in 1991, 1994, 2000 and 2002, but also played for it all another four times. His stretch run was between 1990-2002. That saw T.R. Miller reach the state title game eight times during that 13-year span.
The 2010 AHSAA Hall of Fame inductee has reached the state semifinals 14 times in his 24 seasons at T.R. Miller. His teams won an AHSAA-best 117 games during the 1990s and also forged a 27-game win streak between 1994-1995.
Riggs has been named an Alabama Coach of the Year three times along his career. His teams have now gone 101-26 (.795 win percentage) in region play.
Walden Tucker, Demopolis Academy, Gordo and Fayette County (309-126-3)
Also: .710 win percentage, 2 state titles
Career wins rank: 1st all-time after 37 seasons
Tucker surpassed Daniel in 2010 to claim the state's all-time career wins mark. He spent the last 27 seasons at Fayette County where the street and the field he coached at for so many Friday nights at now bears his name.
He won state titles at Class 2A Gordo in 1980 and in Class 4A at Fayette County in 1996. That squad was his only perfect 15-0 team spanning a career that saw his teams win 10 or more games an impressive 15 times across his 37 years.
There were only four seasons among those 37 years and his teams went 107-34 in region play. His teams reached at least the third round of the state playoffs 13 times along his coaching career. He also reached the state championship game one other time with Fayette County in 2000.
Louis White, Courtland (181-83-0 won-loss record)
Also: .686 win percentage, 4 state titles
Career wins rank: Outside the Top 40 all-time after 24 years
The Alcorn State graduate led Courtland to four state titles in six appearance in the state championship game across his 24 years. White also led the Courtland track team to another five state titles.
White's teams hit a zenith in 1986 with a 10-3 record. That saw his Class 1A Chiefs go on a playoff tear that would see the program pile up a 37-6 postseason record after the completion of the 2005 season.
Courtland won the state title in 1988, 1989, 1990 and would play for it again in 1991. White's boys also reached the state semifinals in 1992 and 1993 and then fashioned another 13-2 state championship season in 1995 to complete the epic run.
The 2003 Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame inductee was also named an Alabama Coach of the Year four times at Courtland.
That's a pretty fine "Magnificent Seven" across the annals, huh?
The task of whittling that one down was like trying to throw a blueberry through a battleship with great coaches like Mac Champion, Bill Clark, Terry Curtis, Glenn Daniel, Bob Finley, Wayne Grant, Ben Harris, Robert Herring, Bob Newton, Jackie O'Neal, Steve Savarese, George "Shorty" White and Fred Yancey all very much a big part of any conversation covering the greatest high school football coaches in state history.
The week spent researching this topic would've been at least a month without the best friend to every high school sports writer in the state of Alabama. I'm talking about the treasured databases of history found of the web pages of the Alabama High School Football Historical Society's online archives.
Most of the stats used to research the careers of all these great coaches were found either or that site or on historical selections on the AHSAA web site. The online archives of the Birmingham also did some hard yards in verifying a few select stats and historical items presented above.
Check them out today, then again tomorrow and the next day. You're guaranteed to enjoy the time spent learning about high school football in Alabama.
Who gets your vote?
Jeff Sentell covers Birmingham high school sports for The Alabama Media Group and The Birmingham News. Write to him at jsentell@al.com.
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