COACHING CHANGE: Summers steps down at Alabama Christian; Dockins takes over
Michael Summers had been the head football coach at Alabama Christian Academy since 2021. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Alabama Christian coach Michael Summers said stepping down as the Eagles’ head football coach wasn’t a tough decision. It was the only decision a person who serves as assistant principal, coaches two sports and teaches AP World History and Dual Enrollment could make.
“Those kids deserve somebody that can give 100 percent of their time,” Summers said. “And I would give them 100 percent of what I had, I just can’t devote every second of my day to football. And they deserve somebody who can.
“I truly believe that in the next two to three years we’ve got a chance to have a really good team. I don’t want me not being able to manage stuff off the field … I don’t want something to slip through the cracks and that be the reason why we don’t maximize what we can be.”
ACA officials announced on Friday morning that J.L. Dockins will take over as head football coach while Summers remains on the staff as an assistant. Summers called Dockins the “salt of the Earth. The kids love him. When we break this to them (on Friday morning), the kids are going to be excited. It’s somebody they believe in and somebody that believes in them.”
Dockins served as the offensive coordinator at Wetumpka High in 2025 and the decision to rehire the longtime ACA assistant created the perfect opportunity for Summers to step down in favor of Dockins.
“I have a lot of irons in the fire,” Summers said. “My original plan was probably to do football for two more years. My offensive coordinator (Tommy Shoemaker) left and it became increasingly evident to me that I can’t give 100 percent of myself to football. And those kids deserve somebody that can give 100 percent.
“Essentially, I went to (head of school) Josh (Roberts) a little before spring break and I said, ‘Look, J.L. can be a really good football coach. I trust him infinitely.’ If you can get somebody of this caliber -- me, J.L. and Greg (Howard) were really the core of this staff back in 2016, 2017 -- if can get that back together right now, let’s do that. I’m still coaching football, I’m just changing my title.”
Summers had served the school as an assistant coach for 17 years, including the last 10 as defensive coordinator, when he was hired as the Eagles’ head football coach in May, 2021. A 2000 graduate of ACA, he was the first alumnus to serve as the head football coach.
“I am an ACA guy through and through,” he said. “I love the school. And that goes beyond football. I love the football program and I love it too much to not give it everything it should be getting. I told those kids a couple of months ago that I’m never going to abandon you. I’m not. If I was abandoning them, I’d be going somewhere else. If I was abandoning them, I wouldn’t be coaching football. I’m going to be right there. It’s just that my title is changing.
“The guy that’s going to have that (head coaching) title is a phenomenal man and a phenomenal football coach. I love him like a brother, I love Greg Howard like a brother, I love (defensive coordinator) Weston Epperson like a brother. Titles don’t mean anything. The biggest thing I couldn’t do is let my ego get in the way and let an opportunity for us to have as good a staff as we can possibly have get by because I wanted to keep a title.”
Summers coached the Eagles to playoff berths in four of his five years as head coach.
In 2021, he coached the Eagles to a 7-4 record, including an upset of Montgomery Academy before losing in the first round of the playoffs to Jacksonville.
In 2022, the Eagles improved to 8-4, including a 64-26 win over highly regarded Lynn, another win over Montgomery Academy and a first-round playoff win over Randolph County before blowing a late lead to Pike County and losing 41-39 in the second round.
In 2023, the 6-5 Eagles defeated Montgomery Academy 28-20 before losing to Houston Academy in the first round of the playoffs.
In 2024, the 7-5 Eagles scored 135 points in region wins over Wicksburg and Slocomb and had a memorable 46-42 win over Glenwood in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Bayside Academy 23-7 in the second round.
In 2025, the Eagles struggled to a 4-6 record, with all four wins coming against teams that combined to win 11 games. ACA closed out the season with a 49-0 loss to 1A state champion Maplesville.
“I hate the fact that the one time I had in my career a running clock was the last game I was the head coach,” Summers said. “But I love the program, I love the school and I’m still a part of it.
“Decisions aren’t easy but I felt like if we could make this one happen, it’s the best thing for everybody involved.”
J. L. Dockins was an assistant for 10 years at Alabama Christian and spent last year at Wetumpka as an assistant and now becomes the head coach at ACA. (Tim Gayle)
Dockins takes the reins at ACA
A thunderous ovation went up among ACA students when Dockins was introduced as the Eagles’ head football coach on Friday.
Dockins had served for 10 years as an assistant coach for the Eagles, first as an offensive coordinator for then-ACA coach Nate Sanford. Last season, he took a similar position at Wetumpka High for Bear Woods.
But when Summers approached Dockins with a plan to replace ACA’s head football coach, Dockins admitted it caught him off guard.
“It’s crazy,” Dockins said. “I said there’s nobody that’s a better head coach than you, so I don’t want you not to be the head coach. But he was pretty adamant about it. The first stipulation about it was that you’re not allowed to just not coach so if you’re not going to be on the staff, I’ll reject this.”
In addition to his duties on the gridiron, Dockins will join ACA’s faculty as a Bible teacher and will serve as assistant athletic director under athletic director Spenser Cantrell. In that role, Dockins will spearhead the launch of ACA’s new S.O.A.R. program — an initiative designed to weave the cornerstone virtues of Eagle athletics into every sport and every team across the entire athletic department. S.O.A.R. stands for Selfless, Obedient, Accountable, and Relentless, and represents a bold vision for what it means to compete as an ACA Eagle.
“J.L. Dockins is a true ACA Eagle,” Cantrell said. “His work with ACA athletes transformed teens and teams for a decade and I am thrilled to welcome Coach Dockins as our newest head football coach. He will bring infectious energy and a relentless pursuit of excellence.”
Fittingly, Dockins’ first official act as head football coach was not on the practice field, but in upper school chapel, speaking to ACA students and praying over them on Friday. It was a moment that encapsulates exactly who J.L. Dockins is and what Alabama Christian Academy stands for.
The torch is passed by a coach who earned the right to pass it. Summers departs the head coaching role as the second most winning head football coach in ACA history — a legacy built on character, competition, and an unwavering commitment to his players. Summers will remain a cornerstone of the program in his new role as associate head coach, joining senior coaches Greg Howard, the special teams coordinator and offensive line coach, and defensive coordinator Weston Epperson on a staff built for excellence.
“I have watched Coach Dockins grow into one of the brightest football minds in Alabama,” Summers said. “At the same time, I have watched him grow as a Christian, husband, and father. His influence at ACA is exciting and I cannot wait to begin spring practices with him at the helm. I am thrilled to celebrate JL’s homecoming. The admiration and love our ACA family has for Coach Dockins is overwhelming and it’s well deserved.”
ACA head of school Josh Roberts expressed his enthusiasm for both the staff assembled around Dockins and the direction of Eagle athletics as a whole.
“The leadership of Coach Dockins and Coach Summers, alongside Coach Greg Howard and Coach Weston Epperson, gives ACA an elite team of leaders — four dedicated Christian men, devoted husbands, and serious fathers raising ten children between them, united by a singular mission: to use football to develop teenagers into men of character. And as they do, they will bring ACA football to new heights,” Roberts said.
Dockins, a Kentucky native and a Faulkner University graduate, agreed.
“I don’t think we can even begin to understand what the potential really is because of those men that are going to be helping lead in that locker room.” Dockins said. “There’s so much experience, just deep care for those kids and growing them as future warriors for Christ. It’s a superstar staff in my opinion. The potential is untapped and that’s what we’re definitely going to be leaning into.”
Had the offer not been made, Dockins added, he was perfectly content working as an offensive coordinator at Wetumpka.
“Wetumpka was great,” he said. “Bear was a fantastic coach to work for. He taught me so many things. If it wasn’t for this job opening up, I’d still be at Wetumpka. I love Wetumpka. We live in Wetumpka. We love where we live, we love our church family and the friends we have. We’re not moving.”
Despite the change in leadership, the Eagles are expected to look the same when the 2026 season kicks off.
“I’m sure everybody’s going to be a little different, but Michael’s got this program in such a great place, it’s about coming in and picking up where he’s leaving it,” he said. “The program itself has a whole lot of potential and has the ability to do whatever it is we want to do.”
Dockins and his wife, Savannah, are proud parents of two daughters — Emma Jo and Rylee Grace. Dockins is expected to hit the ground running as the Eagles prepare for the upcoming season, with the S.O.A.R. program set to take root across all ACA athletic programs under his leadership and that of Cantrell.