Seymore takes over as head football coach, AD at Trinity

Brian Seymore was named the new athletic director and head football coach at Trinity. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Brian Seymore might have preferred to remain as a coach in the public school arena as he worked toward the years he needed to be vested in the retirement system, but couldn’t deny the attraction as he considered the vacant coaching position at Trinity.

“I know I’m getting close, but as a coach there are certain fits for certain places,” he said. “As this process evolved, I kind of got drawn to it. As things get closer and we start talking back and forth and I think there’s a realistic chance to be the guy, excitement took over.”

A six-week search to replace Granger Shook as Trinity’s football coach culminated on Wednesday with the introduction of Seymore as the Wildcats’ new football coach and athletic director.

“Trinity’s always been a high-level program,” Seymore noted. “They’ve always been competitive in multiple sports. They have established coaches across the board. Having coaches in football like Randy Ragsdale and Coach Shook -- Coach Shook, to me, is one of the top young coaches in Alabama -- just following those guys, obviously, the expectations are high.”

Seymore, among football coaches, is a household name in the central and south part of Alabama. His father Ricky, currently an assistant coach at Edgewood Academy, has served with some of the best coaches in the Alabama Independent School Association in addition to serving as a head coach at Lowndes Academy and Meadowview Christian School.

Brian Seymore, who was born in Dallas County but spent several years in Montgomery, has spent the past 20 years rebuilding or maintaining prominent programs in the state, but said an opportunity to be closer to his father, his mother-in-law in Greenville and children Mary and Drew at Auburn University was more important than fulfilling requirement in the retirement system.

“I think family sets precedent right now,” he said. “I’m super excited to be here and super excited for this opportunity. They have high expectations for this program and it’s been a blessing to be around the support staff here, how optimistic and encouraged they are about the future of Trinity athletics. ”

Seymore’s first head coaching experience came in 2004 and 2005 in the AISA ranks at Pike Liberal Arts before he took a job as a defensive coordinator under Tom Causey at Andalusia High in 2006.

He would follow Causey to Demopolis, serving in the same capacity in 2007, then was hired as Andalusia’s head coach in 2008. After seven years (including five consecutive playoff trips), he took a job rebuilding Mary Montgomery in 2015 and 2016, then was hired to coach at Demopolis after Stacy Luker stepped down to become the head coach at Clarke County.

He’s well respected in coaching circles and stood out during the interview process at Trinity.

“I know at one point we had over 20 applicants,” said Suzanne Satcher, interim head of school. “We put together a football committee that had parents of past players, Mike Ellis, Jess (Lassiter), our current athletic director, and myself. We all made phone calls and went through resumes and narrowed it down to five candidates.

“When he came to visit us from Demopolis, it was a two, two-and-a-half-hour conversation. Brian stood out to us. All of the candidates were excellent, had both private and public school experience, all but one had been head coaches and loved the game of football. Brian really stood out to us because of the value he places on his relationship with the Lord and the value he places on his relationship with coaches and players.”

Interesting enough, Seymore wasn’t initially available when Shook announced on March 28 he was accepting the head football position at Pike Road. Seymore was in the process of accepting the job as head football coach and athletic director at Greenville High on April 3, then announced after a follow-up trip to Greenville the following day that he was returning to Demopolis.

That position was no longer available, however. Greenville hired former assistant Garrick Pimienta, while Demopolis hired Lance Tucker, leaving Seymore available for the Trinity job.

“It did not play a role,” Satcher said of Seymore’s decision to walk away from Greenville after initially accepting the position. “We discussed it and I think, just like anything, Brian said I knew that was not the right place for me, that God had a different plan.”

With Lassiter announcing two weeks after Shook’s departure that she was stepping down from her role as the Wildcats’ athletic director, the school needed to fill two positions in the athletic department. Satcher said handing both roles to Seymore just made sense.

“He’s done it all,” she said. “It was really just looking at his skill set and figuring out the best role for him here at Trinity. He has been an athletic director, he’s been an athletic director and coach. As a matter of fact, he’s very knowledgeable in all the process and paperwork of being an athletic director. He’s carried that dual role at a bigger school than where we are now. We felt like, with his skill set, that would be the best role for him.”

Seymore must still hire some assistant coaches and determine whether to put the Wildcats through football drills before the end of school, but said his style of play shouldn’t be a big adjustment.

“I think me and Coach Shook are similar in a lot of regards,” he said. “We want to play physical football, tough, hard-nosed defense. Offensively, you want to play at a high pace. You want to steal possessions, try to get as many plays as you can on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, you want to be aggressive, make the quarterback think a little bit, create turnovers. I think, offensively, it’s changed so much you have to score points. There are times you have to rely on that offense to outscore people.”

His new role as athletic director may be a bigger adjustment. He will be coaching a football team competing in 3A while the baseball team has been elevated to 4A by Competitive Balance Factor, the basketball program may be moving up with the next reclassification and his daughter Maggie, a talented tennis player, will soon be competing in Class 6A for the Wildcats because of Competitive Balance Factor.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of big decisions made in the next reclassification, a lot of big decisions made between public and private (schools), how they’re going to do it,” Seymore said. “I understand Competitive Balance and agree with it to a certain extent. But if you don’t have the kids to pull from, to say a tennis team has to compete in 6A, I don’t know if they have the numbers (in enrollment) to compete in 6A. I think (AHSAA officials) have to find a happy medium somewhere because when you are successful, it kind of penalizes the private school. I think it’s hurting some programs a little bit now.”