Foshee steps down from Autauga Academy football
Jeff Foshee stepped down as head football coach at midseason at Autauga Academy. Headmaster Jeremy Carter is the interim coach for the remainder of the season. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
For the second time in as many years, Autauga Academy headmaster Jeremy Carter will have to add additional duties as the school’s head football coach
Carter was told by Autauga football coach Jeff Foshee on Sept. 24 that Foshee would be stepping down as the Generals’ head coach for health reasons. Carter has coached the Generals over the past three games, beating Prattville Christian 36-20, Keith 50-24 and Verbena 22-8.
Foshee wasn’t feeling well when he arrived at school on the day of the Generals’ win over Autaugaville on Sept. 13 and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. In his absence, Carter coached the General to a 35-0 region victory over the Eagles.
After a 21-20 loss at Maplesville the following week, Foshee said he experienced another health scare over the weekend -- which he said doctors later attributed to stress.
“He came in on Monday and said he had another episode and on Tuesday morning he came into my office and said, ‘I’m retiring, I’m out, I just can’t do it,”’ Carter said. “He came back Wednesday morning and withdrew Davis, his son, who was also one of our quarterbacks.
“I took over Tuesday afternoon at practice and we kind of did some new things offensively on Wednesday, had a walk-through on Thursday and played (Prattville Christian) on Friday.”
The decision to pull his son out of the private school in the middle of a semester and enroll him in an Elmore County public school is an indication there are other factors in Foshee’s decision, but the coach elected not to elaborate.
“I told them I was going to retire and they could have it,” Foshee said. “I walked away for health reasons. It was extremely hard to walk away from that team because that’s the team that I built. We had kids transfer in that I had created relationships with at prior places and they wanted to play for me. It was a hard decision for me to make but that last (health) episode scared me. But I had a very good relationship with those kids.”
The makeup of a team that includes separate offensive and defensive linemen, an oversized line and a talented group of skill players --- along with a favorable back half of the schedule -- should help the Generals, Foshee added, provided the team continues to buy in to the process of watching film, lifting weights and having organized practices that Foshee said were the primary ingredients to success in September.
Carter becomes the fourth coach at the school in the last four years. After Bobby Carr resigned from the school following the 2021 season, Trey Dunbar became the Generals’ head coach, but stepped down on the first day of fall practice before the 2023 season to become an assistant coach at Wetumpka High.
Carter took over and coached the Generals to an 8-4 season and the Class AAA semifinals in their final year as an Alabama Independent School Association member. Now, in their first year as an Alabama High School Athletic Association team, he is forced to take the coaching reins again.
“I’m definitely proud of our kids, how they have come into their own,” Carter said. “The good thing is, half the team, or more than half, dealt with this last year. The new kids that have moved in are the only ones who have not dealt with this problem.”
The offense now has a slightly different look, powering behind an oversized offensive line, in part because of a season ending knee injury to tailback Cam Wright.
“Both sides of the ball responded,” Carter said. “Keith had only been giving up 14 points a game until Friday night and they’re a physical team. We made some adjustments and put up 50 on them.”
Carter said he will continue to coach the Generals through the remainder of the 2024 season and, at this point, has not entertained any thought of trying to find a successor to Foshee.