Montgomery Academy honors fallen coach
Montgomery Academy head of school John McWilliams (far right) honors the late Michael Floyd prior to the game between the Eagles and St. James (Tim Gayle)
BY TIM GAYLE
Shorecrest Prep athletic director Anthony McCall heard the news on Thursday morning and said it was difficult to digest.
The former Montgomery Academy athletic director, who was responsible for hiring Michael Floyd as the Eagles’ track and field coach in June, 2013, was informed that Floyd had passed away from COVID-19 complications.
“I got the call on that (Thursday) morning and it broke my heart,” McCall said. “Since I’ve been here, if I had a track question, I’d reach out to him and he’d give me insight on some things. I was just at a loss, knowing he was gone.”
Montgomery Academy head of school John McWilliams announced Floyd’s passing on the school’s Facebook page and via e-mail, calling Floyd a “deeply dedicated” coach and “an accomplished teacher of AP World History.”
On Friday, a moment of silence was observed to honor Floyd at Montgomery Academy’s basketball game at St. James. Before the opening tip, McWilliams addressed the crowd in remembrance of Floyd.
“He worked diligently to help students improve, many times over the course of a career that begins in seventh grade and goes all the way through their senior year and for some beyond into college,” McWilliams said. “And I have to ask myself: Why does Michael do that? Why do coaches do that? “Many of them are not preparing people that go on to be professional athletes. Michael wasn’t preparing Olympians. He did it for the reason that so many of the coaches here are doing it -- they believe passionately the role that sports play in the development of character, in the development of leadership, in the development of skills of resilience, of setting goals and working toward those goals together.
“Students, today, I hope that you will turn to your coaches and offer thanks for their commitment to your lives; I hope that you’ll thank your parents for their commitment; and I hope that we’ll all carry a little bit of Michael Floyd with us.”
Floyd joined the MA track program as an assistant in 2010-11 under Kevin Weatherill, helping with the boys’ cross country and boys’ outdoor track programs. He became the head coach in the summer of 2013, taking over after Weatherill’s departure for St. Paul’s Episcopal.
As head coach, he coached the Eagles to state championships in both the boys’ and girls’ cross country in 2013 and the boys’ cross country in 2014. He also coached the girls to a repeat outdoor track championship in the spring of 2014, a year after the Eagles had won a championship under Weatherill in 2013.
“His impact will be felt around here for a long time,” said MA athletic director Robert Johnson, who said the Eagles will participate as scheduled in next weekend’s state indoor track meet because that’s what Floyd would have wanted and that Ethan McBride would assume the role of head coach of the track team.
Southside-Gadsden football coach Gary Nelson, who replaced McCall as MA athletic director, first came to the school in 2013 and worked alongside Floyd as a track coach under Weatherill, then served as a track assistant for Floyd before becoming his boss in 2018 when McCall went to St. Petersburg, Fla.
“When I think about him and the impact he had, I start with two things about him,” Nelson said. “Number one, he was such an advocate for track and field. He thought that track had tremendous value for kids. He believed it made them better athletes. And he believed in the value that a track team had.
“The second thing I remember is how he advocated for the kids. They became an extension of him. They were Floyd kids. He brought the best out of them as competitors and in the classroom. Floyd was a great teacher and was really passionate about teaching. Those kids always gravitated toward him.”
While McWilliams mentioned Floyd’s commitment to the community through his annual “Race Against Hunger” track meet that raised money for the Montgomery Area Food Bank, McCall was impressed by Floyd’s commitment to the field events in track and field, building a complete program in the process.
“Michael was a pole vaulter in college so he brought that to the table and that expertise really paid big dividends for us,” McCall said. “He did a lot to elevate our indoor track program. He was really big on that. He did a lot to push it because he understood the advantage we have in Alabama to have that indoor track season, where it can kind of catapult you into the outdoor season.
“I just thought a lot of what he did, how he was trying to always think of ways to grow the program. He was never complacent. That’s what you want from somebody who is leading one of your programs. Like most coaches, they want what is ‘theirs’ for their program, but Michael got the big picture as far as what we were trying to do with MA athletics.”
Nelson, meanwhile, had a humorous anecdote in reflecting on the Eagles’ track coach.
“Anybody that ever ran track at MA or coached with him knew that a lot of coaches have the policy that if you show up late, we’re going to leave without you,” Nelson said. “A lot of coaches give lip service to that but Floyd is one who will do that. He likes to get to a meet early. He wanted you there hours before the meet started. There would be times when we were leaving for a meet at 6 o’clock and 6:01 meant you were getting left.”
It was just one of life’s lessons that Floyd wanted to teach. But anyone who ever came in contact with him knew he cared deeply for his students.
“Sitting with him, after we hosted track meets, we would just stay at the meet, late into the night, cleaning up after the meet but really just talking about how our kids had performed,” Nelson said. “He was always asking what he needed to do to get a kid to take a step, to dig a little deeper and be the best version of themselves.
“I think his impact will be felt in the community for years to come. I’m going to miss him and certainly appreciate everything he did while I was there.”