RRS EXCLUSIVE: Bobby Carr's coaching future takes unexpected detour

Former Autauga Academy coach Bobby Carr was the primary candidate for the head coaching position at At the forefront of the offers was one from Elmore County High School but the board refused to vote on his recommendation. (Staff Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

He’s a coach without a program, uncertain of the next step in his career.

A month ago, it seemed so simple to Bobby Carr. He was at Autauga Academy, enjoying the Generals’ 2021 state championship and entertaining offers from football programs in need of a head football coach. 

At the forefront of the offers was one from Elmore County principal Wes Rogers, who was looking to replace the Panthers’ football coach, Jordan Cantrell. Rogers and Carr were friends, former junior college baseball teammates. Rogers thought his decision to hire Carr had the backing of the Elmore County Board of Education. 

Questions followed and board members wanted an executive session with Carr, an unprecedented vetting process that isn’t followed with normal coaching candidates recommended by the principal.   

Meanwhile, back at Autauga Academy, headmaster Larry Pickett needed to know whether Carr would be returning. On signing day, Carr reported he had told Pickett that whatever happened, he would not be returning to Autauga.

“I quit a job thinking I was getting a job,” Carr said. “I was assured I was getting it. All of that exploded in my face. So what’s the next step?”

A few days later, at a meeting of the Elmore County Board of Education, Rogers thought he had ironed out everything with the board and Carr would be hired, so he had no idea what was coming next.

The board of education, despite repeated conversations on the matter, voted to separate Carr’s hiring from other personnel matters, then went into executive session to talk again on the matter. When they resumed in an open hearing, superintendent Richard Dennis made a recommendation to hire Carr. Joey Holley, who represents Eclectic, made a motion for the hiring but the other board members -- Dale Bain, Wendell Saxon, David Jones, Michael Morgan, Leisa Finley and Brian Ward -- refused to second the motion, killing it without a vote. 

Several attempts to reach certain board members on this matter were unsuccessful.

Carr moved on with an offer to serve as an offensive coordinator at a south Alabama high school. At the same time, another principal called and told him to hold his decision, that a head coaching position may be open. 

“I’ve got a few job offers and opportunities,” Carr said. “I love Autauga and I love the AISA, but all the success I’ve had as a coach all these years, what do I have to fall back on? I don’t have any retirement and I’m at an age where I’ve got to do something. What else can I accomplish in the private school league, win another championship? That’s not going to help me in my future. I love the kids, I’ve always stayed for the kids, but at the end of the day I started thinking I’ve got to worry about myself.” 

Autauga Academy headmaster Larry Pickett, who had originally hired Carr at Edgewood Academy, said he had repeatedly encouraged Carr to take a better paying job at a larger high school or in the collegiate ranks and offered the same advice when Carr came to him in mid-January with the offer to become the next head coach and athletic director at Elmore County High.

“It was a mutual agreement,” Pickett said. “I had about five or six councils with him. He came to me for advice and it was time for him to move up. I’ve been trying to get him to do that for a long time. He’s got too much talent to waste it in high school. He finally got his degree (two years ago). I pushed him for that.”

Now, a former quarterback at Stanhope Elmore that spent the first 20 years in Elmore County as a championship coach has been informed by the current board that he’s not qualified to coach in their county, a stinging rebuke that has him considering options in the area. Still, there’s that offer in south Alabama as an assistant coach. It’s a pay cut, but it’s employment.

“I like the things he was saying, I like his vision,” Carr said of the head coach making the offer. “The Lord works in mysterious ways. I never expected this but if it gets me in the door, that’s what I’m going to do. Either way, I love Autauga but I’m 50 years old, I’ve got to get retirement benefits.”

The Elmore County Board of Education, passing on the opportunity to hire a county native with 150 wins and 10 state championships in the last 13 years and 250 wins in a 25-year coaching career, will go back to the drawing board in search of a head coach for Elmore County High. The board oversees four high schools that have combined for just one football season of more than seven wins (Stanhope Elmore was 9-3 in 2019) over the past three years.

Meanwhile, the decision to walk away from Autauga without a job -- even if the idea was formulated more than a month ago -- has fueled speculation and rumors concerning Carr that even Pickett’s comments can’t stop. 

“I met with the board and I met with Mr. Pickett,” Carr said. “I could have lied and said I’m going to stay here, but we just mutually agreed to go separate ways. I didn’t plan on coming back. I thought that was the right thing to do. I even offered to help them find another coach. There’s no bad blood. I guess that’s all the haters running their mouth with all these rumors.”

At Autauga, the interview process to find Carr’s replacement continues.

“The search committee will make a choice,” Pickett said. “We’re going to get the best hire for Autauga Academy. I’d like to put something together before the spring holidays, around the middle of March.”