Free leaves Edgewood for Hooper Academy
Darryl Free is leaving his coaching position at Edgewood Academy to become the headmaster at Hooper Academy. He will coach the boys’ basketball team. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Darryl Free was perfectly content to continue in his role as basketball coach at Edgewood Academy when he was approached with an intriguing proposal to become the headmaster at Hooper Academy.
“I was reached out to, to gauge interest,” Free said. “Obviously, I’m familiar with Hooper and I did some research with some other people around the state. Then I talked to my wife (Michele) and my family and we decided to pursue it. The more we got into the process and talked about it, the more we realized this could become a reality. Once we realized that, we were in.”
Free accepted the offer and will transition immediately into the role, working with retiring headmaster Liz Norman through the remainder of the school year and officially taking over as headmaster on June 1.
Free arrived at Edgewood in 2016-17 as the athletic director as the school was struggling to rebuild its athletic program. By the next fall, an unexpected departure by the football coach had Free coaching that sport, where he led the Wildcats to a 17-7 record and two trips to the state semifinals in 2018 and 2019. He coached the boys’ basketball team to a state championship in 2018-19.
He left the following year to take a similar role at W.S. Neal in East Brewton, but returned after a year and became both the boys’ and girls’ basketball coach at Edgewood. In 2022, he coached the girls’ team to a state championship. This past winter, he coached the boys to a state championship and the girls repeated as state champs by going unbeaten.
While he hasn’t made a full evaluation of the Hooper Academy athletic department yet, he said he will coach the boys’ basketball team.
“I’m still coaching,” he said. “I’m going to coach the boys’ basketball team. I’m going to be the headmaster and boys’ basketball coach. That was a big, important factor for me because one day I may be sitting behind a desk as a headmaster or AD without coaching, but not at 37.”
Free said he hasn’t had any conversations yet with Tommy Norman, who coached the boys’ team at Hooper and took over the girls in mid-season and coached them into the state tournament semifinals.
Free said the next two months will be spent learning from Norman as well as picking up a few pointers from other headmasters in the area.
“Obviously, I’m going to learn as much as I can from Dr. Norman, with her experience,” Free said. “I do that in every aspect of my professional life. I try to surround myself with people that are really smart in their area and I know she is fantastic. But I’m building relationships. The more I can get to know the kids, get to know the staff and building the relationships with these people is really the main cause.”
At the same time, leaving behind two state championship teams at Edgewood was a difficult choice.
“Every time you’re around kids, you kind of pick out a special class,” Free said. “Human nature, for some reason, gravitates you toward them. This next senior class, the current junior class, was kind of that class for me with Lindsey Brown and Gabe LeMaster, kids that when I first got there were sixth graders, so I’ve seen them come all the way through. To leave at this particular time, it’s difficult but these kids are older and they understand professional decisions you have to make for your family. Does that make it any easier? No, for sure. This isn’t something that was on my radar a few months back. Now that it is, we’re 100 percent on board and looking forward to growing Hooper and making it an even better place.”
Free said his next step is learning the rich tradition and history of Hooper so he can continue to build on what Norman has established.
“We know the possibility is there,” Free said. “Meeting with people, all I’ve heard about is the deep roots over there and how everybody is invested in the school, which is a good thing. They’ve got a lot of the ingredients you look for in the beginning (when you’re) wanting to grow something. Dr. Norman has done a fantastic job there and I’m looking forward to giving it my spin and seeing if I can’t build off what she’s already done.”