UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis humbled by national award

This is an opinion piece.

When my job at the Press-Register changed in 2013 from copy editor to high school sports reporter, colleagues Mike Herndon and Josh Bean gave me a sage piece of advice.

“Get to know Terry Curtis.”

As usual, those guys were right.

I’ve done just that over the last decade, and it’s been tremendously rewarding.

This week, Curtis – the veteran UMS-Wright football coach – was named the National Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.

Last fall, he passed retired Vestavia Hills legend Buddy Anderson for most coaching wins all-time in the state of Alabama. Curtis enters this fall – his 51st on a high school sideline – with 348 victories. Anderson finished his career with 346.

Curtis’ award was voted on by his coaching peers around the country and presented at the NHSACA convention in Lincoln, Neb.

“Anytime you are recognized by your peers, it’s very humbling,” he said. “I’m a very small piece of this thing. A lot of people got me to where I am today. I’m very fortunate to have had a dad like I did and the support of places like Shaw, Murphy and, of course, UMS-Wright. I know a lot of awards like this are about wins and losses, but I hope my legacy is more about helping people along the way.”

Curtis also praised his players and assistant coaches over the years and said he is ready to go for Year No. 25 as the UMS head coach. He spent four years at Shaw and six at Murphy before taking over the Bulldogs in 1999.

“After I decided I was coming back this year, I haven’t looked back or even once thought, ‘Man, I don’t know about this.’ My wife probably has, but I haven’t,” he said.

Curtis and UMS will open the season at home against St. Paul’s on Aug. 25 in the annual “Battle of Old Shell Road.” He starts the year seven victories ahead of Central-Clay County’s Danny Horn (341) on the all-time list and 11 ahead of Fyffe’s Paul Benefield (337) on the active coaches list.

Curtis has won 11 games or more in nine of the last 11 years.

2 new AHSAA girls sports

The AHSAA’s Central Board of Control voted this week to sanction girls’ flag football and girls’ wrestling as championship sports beginning with the 2024-25 season.

Executive director Alvin Briggs told the Alabama Sports Writers Association in June that this was coming. These aren’t “new” sports. They are just newly sanctioned. They will be the 12th and 13th sanctioned sports for girls. There are currently 12 sanctioned boys sports.

“This is great news for our girls’ student-athletes,” Briggs said this week. “The growth we’ve seen in both sports has been amazing in a short time.”

Flag football will begin its third season this fall. Currently, 89 schools have declared for the sport this year, while 76 schools have declared for girls wrestling. The Board also approved two classifications in each sport (Class 1A-5A, Class 6A-7A). That means there will be two girls flag football championships this year at the Super 7 at Bryant-Denny Stadium – one at 1 p.m., the other at 3 p.m.

In other news at the regularly scheduled meeting, the Board voted to return $2.25 million to its members schools under its School Athletics Grants Program (formerly known as Revenue Sharing). It’s the largest total in history.

The AHSAA Revenue Share Program, which was instituted in 20009-2010, has distributed $1.2 million to member schools since that first year. The 2022-23 payout in October will bring the total to $23,450,000 overall since it was implemented 14 years ago.

The plan returns excess funds back to member schools when the AHSAA has at least one year’s working capital in reserve.

Surprising move in Phenix City

After 32 seasons as head coach of the Central-Phenix City girls basketball team, Carolyn Wright is no longer in that position.

Mark Clark reported this week that principal Kerry McDonald recommended the move to the superintendent.

AHSAA Hall of Famer Wright became the Red Devils’ coach in 1991 and has won 593 games and been to four final fours.

Clark said McDonald’s only comment was, “It’s time to move in another direction.”

Rogetta Williams has been named interim coach.

Wright remains a physical education teacher in the system.

Thanks to Mark Clark for reporting.

The Countdown is on

We are now less than a month away from the official start of the 2023 high school football season.

I’ve watched over the last few weeks as different counties and cities have hosted High School Media Days.

AL.com will host Media Days next week in Baldwin County, Mobile County and the Birmingham area.

Teams which didn’t conduct spring practice can open fall camp on Monday. Everyone else will open Aug. 7. The first official games will be the weekend of Aug. 24-25.

It’s changed a lot since I covered my first high school football game for the Gadsden Times in the fall of 1990, but the excitement is still there – even for this 55-year-old reporter.

When I’m asked what I enjoy most about my job, it’s a pretty easy answer.

It’s the relationships. At this level of sports and reporting, we are able to cultivate meaningful relationships with coaches, players and administrators. It’s something that once you step into college reporting or the NFL, it’s much tougher to do because of the guard rails most schools have in place.

There are more challenges now, even at this level, than there were in 1990. Less staffing but more teams to cover. Deadlines are now immediate instead of at midnight or 12:30 a.m.

But the people don’t change. It still means a great deal to me to be able to write a story about a player – whether it is a five-star recruit or the third-string long snapper. It matters to me. Thanks for trusting me to continue to do it.

God has placed me in a career that I enjoy, and I hope I am having an impact for the Kingdom and doing my job well. Year 34 – Let’s Go!

Back in the saddle

Joe Nettles has been named the new football coach at South Choctaw Academy.

He replaces Charlie Taylor, who went 46-43 in eight seasons.

Nettles has won 253 games in 43 years as a head coach and has spent time in both the AHSAA and the AISA. His last head coaching job was in 2016 at Sumter Academy.

South Choctaw went 4-7 in 2022 and lost in the first round of the AISA-A playoffs.

Thought for the Week

“Right is right even if no one else is doing it.”

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.