Prattville's Ross leaves 'home' for position with Troy Trojans

Caleb Ross spent the last three years as the head coach for the Prattville Lions. He is leaving for a football position at Troy. (File Photo)

By GRAHAM DUNN

Caleb Ross stated it was a tough decision since “Prattville is home.”

But a chance to move into the college ranks was too hard to pass up.

Ross, who is a Prattville native, will leave home and take the position of Director of High School Relations with the Troy Trojans. He will also be a part of every day coaching duties with coach Chip Lindsey.

 “This one was harder than McGill (Toolen),” Ross said referring to when he left Mobile for his hometown. “I loved it down there. But this was home.

“When Chip offered me the job, I had to look seriously at it. It took a couple of days before I really decided.”

Ross leaves the Lions’ program where he had built back to respectability. In three years, he led Prattville to playoff berths in each of his three seasons and a total of 23 victories.

“I’ve gotten to know so many people again while here,” Ross said. “The way I look at it, this job is better than when I came here.  We didn’t quite get to the point of winning a state championship but this year - coming up - might be our best team.“

Ross said his past relationship with the Troy head coach goes back to when he was at Thompson High School. He maintained a line of communication with the idea that one day, one or the other might call for a job.

We’ve known each other for about 10 years,” Ross said.” We knew each other when I was at Thompson. He has been an offensive guy I’m an offensive guy so we’ve stayed in touch.

“He was (offensive coordinator) at Missouri and I was at McGill so we’ve always been in touch. Chip has always been a friend of mine. He told me if I ever wanted to get on this level to let him know. When the job came open, I told them I was interested.”

Who replaces Ross is now the question for the Prattville administration. Ross believes he has assistants on the staff that are capable of taking his place. But he’s not in the loop about who the Lions will hire.

“I’ve been told they will hire the best guy, no doubt,” Ross said. “This team will have a lot of talent. We got excitement back, felt like we had a lot of kids sign college scholarships. We had 29 sign this year. That’s important.”