Chandler heads home to lead Opelika after just one season at Catholic

After just one season, Jonathan Chandler moves on from Catholic to lead the Opelika football program. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

It was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Jonathan Chandler, whose first head coaching job at Catholic earned the Knights a trip to the 5A state quarterfinals, stepped down from Catholic to accept a similar position at Opelika High on Wednesday.

The Opelika native went through strength and conditioning drills with his players on Wednesday morning, then told the players of his decision.  

“We worked out together this morning and strategically tried to do everything as best we could,” Chandler said. “It was a good meeting. They fully understand. The hardest thing on the docket is we still have our banquet (on Thursday). But the banquet isn’t about me, it’s celebrating the kids and the seniors.”

Chandler was hired last February after former coach Kirk Johnson was hired as the head coach at Benjamin Russell. Catholic athletic director Daniel Veres, who moved quickly a year ago to hire Chandler, supported his coach’s decision to return to his alma mater.

“It was just a great opportunity for him and his family,” Veres said. “He was super transparent with me the whole time. We talked from the day that they called him. We talked after every time he went there. He had a great meeting with the superintendent and, to be honest with you, I feel certain the superintendent is the one that sold him on it’s not going to be quite what he expected, that they’re going in a new direction. That kind of energized him to think this might be the right fit at the right time.

“We’re proud of him. He went to school there, (Chandler’s wife) Tiffany went there. It’s really going home for him. I’m also proud of our kids. I really feel that our accomplishments this year helped him get the job as well. He’s 100 percent capable of being great there. We’re happy for him and his family.”

Chandler, an Opelika quarterback in 2003-05, returned to the Bulldogs in 2013 after five years at Troy as a player and two more as a graduate assistant with the Trojans. He served as an assistant coach at Opelika for nine seasons, including the last four as an offensive coordinator, before taking a job as offensive coordinator at Wetumpka (2022-23) and Pike Road (2024).

This past season, his first head coaching job got off to a 1-3 start before the Knights turned it around and won seven of their final nine games, losing only at Class 7A Vestavia Hills and in the 5A quarterfinals to Williamson.

“At the end of the day, it is home but that’s not the reason I’m going back there,” Chandler said. “It’s a top five job in the state. A lot has changed there for the good since my family and I left about four and a half years ago. 

“Catholic showed me the first class way of how hiring a coach should be and I think I made that pretty clear to the folks at Opelika. If they wanted me and wanted me to come in and talk (in an interview process), you’re going to have to bring me in, bring my wife in because she’s going to be involved.”

New Opelika City Schools Superintendent Kevin Davis noted in a Wednesday press release that “Chandler shares our vision for excellence, high expectations and community pride, which we are confident will take our program to the next level.” Chandler noted that Davis’ vision and goals for the city school system were the deciding factors in pursuing the job.  

“It’s a one-horse town, being a city school system,” Chandler said. “It is the only high school in the city of Opelika. You look at your Saralands and Thompsons of the world, places that are having success, they’re putting the commitment to that.

“I didn’t think I would stay (at Catholic) forever, maybe a handful of years. You’re never in control of what happens next, the Lord is, but I definitely did not think Opelika would be open for a while. (Former head coach) Bryan Moore did an incredible job of getting Opelika back right and getting it rolling. The foundation is really good. It won’t be easy. It’s 7A football in Alabama.”

Moore was announced on Wednesday as the new head football coach at Foley.

Catholic, meanwhile, will be looking for its third head coach in the last 13 months. Veres was hesitant to offer a timetable, saying the Alabama High School Association’s delayed classification proposal in two weeks -- which could offer some far-ranging effects on the Knights’ football program -- could play a role in the hiring process.

Under the current AHSAA format, Catholic’s football program will be elevated to Class 6A by Competitive Balance Factor in 2026 and 2027.

“We’ll do like before,” Veres said. “My job is to make sure someone is here to give the players the best opportunity to do their thing. We’ll get another coach who loves them and cares about them and makes them the best they can possibly be.

“I’ve got a plan. There are a couple of options here and they are immediate options. If those options don’t work out, we will take a step back and slow it down and we will gather intel, do our due diligence and shoot for the end of January because we really want to see what’s going on with reclassification.”