BY TIM GAYLE
SPORTS WRITER – SPECIAL TO EAN
TOP PHOTO: (FILE PHOTO) BOBBY CARR ACCEPTS TROPHY FROM MICHAEL MCCLENDON.
After a crazy journey that included job offers at two area high schools, former Autauga Academy coach Bobby Carr is thankful for his new role as the head football coach and assistant athletic director at Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Carr had accepted a job from school administrators at Elmore County High in late January and Park Crossing in mid-April, only to have the respective school boards turn in a different decision, leaving the highly successful private school coach without a job before he finally signed a contract with the Mississippi school on Tuesday.
“It’s been crazy with everything that has happened, but God works in mysterious ways and I’m just thankful this all worked out,” Carr said. “It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things, especially the situation in Elmore County. I’ve been a citizen of Elmore County my whole life. It just blew me away that that happened. It just meant God had another plan.
“The same thing happened at Park Crossing. But I’m just so thankful and it feels so good to be wanted and appreciated and I’m looking forward to doing some great things with some great people at Presbyterian.”
Carr stepped down from his position at Autauga Academy after he was offered the job at Elmore County High by principal Wes Rogers, a lifelong friend. But in a crazy twist, the formality of being approved by the Board of Education took a strange detour when the board refused to second a motion to hire him, leaving the position open.
Carr looked at other positions, primarily as an offensive coordinator at more than one south Alabama school when the Park Crossing job was offered to him. Again, needing only approval from the board, he thought the job was his, only to discover otherwise in a May board meeting.
During that same time, he was offered the head coaching position at Abbeville Christian Academy and listened to school administrators, but he had stepped down from Autauga in search of better insurance and retirement benefits and still wanted a job in the public school ranks.
“The people at Abbeville Christian were extremely nice,” he said, weighing the offer as another arrived from Presbyterian Christian, which had lost their head coach after he accepted an administrative position.
“I think they actually called Michael McLendon, the AISA executive director, asking for a coach,” Carr said. “He recommended me and they called me Thursday (May 12) and wanted to know when I could meet and I said ‘right now.’”
Carr toured the school the following day and returned on Tuesday morning to sign a contract and meet with parents and players. During the meeting with parents, he revealed a 2019 arrest for driving under the influence — for which he is finishing up court-ordered classes to comply with the judge’s ruling — to keep the subject from coming up in Internet searches by parents.
“I just gave my DUI speech to every parent at the school, about turning a negative into a positive,” he said. “I figured to go ahead and address this and move on.”
While it doesn’t include the state retirement benefits he was looking for, the school offered a raise in pay, along with insurance and retirement benefits that brought the offer in line with any he could receive at the public school level.
“It’s much better and obviously the thing that intrigued me the most was the Blue Cross-Blue Shield (insurance coverage) and the 401K,” he said. “It was a really, really good package they put together.
“The Christian private school setting is good for me, too. It’s similar to what I’m used to.”
The school competes in the highest (6A) classification in the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools, a six-team class that now includes three successful high school coaches from Alabama — Doug Goodwin at Jackson Prep, Aubrey Blackwell at Jackson Academy and Carr at Presbyterian Christian School.
“I gave the boys a lot of the rah-rah speeches that I gave when I first got to Edgewood in 2001 and when I first got to Autauga,” Carr said. “If you want to accomplish the big things in life, you’ve got to start doing all the little things right.”
They’ll start working on the little things at the first football workout on May 31.
“I know we’re way behind,” he said.
The following is a release issued by the Presbyterian Christian School announcing Carr’s hiring.
PCS HIRES ALABAMA’S MOST WINNING ACTIVE COACH FOR HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, BOBBY CARR
HATTIESBURG, MS—It is with great pleasure that Presbyterian Christian School announces the hiring of Coach Bobby Carr for our Head Football Coach role.
Coach Bobby Carr comes to PCS with a wealth of coaching experience and program-building under his belt. In 2022 he was the State of Alabama winningest football coach, and in 2018 he was inducted into the National Private School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He holds the Alabama state record for the state’s longest winning streak at 71 games in a row, and then increased that streak to 96 straight games while serving at Autauga Academy.
Coach Bobby Carr has an overall head football coaching record of 255 (W) — 54 (L). He also comes to PCS as a six-time Coach of the Year (Montgomery Advertiser), a seven-time Coach of the Year (Wetumpka Herald), two-time Coach of the Year (Millbrook Progress), and coach of two NFL players and one CFL player. Coach Bobby Carr has coached multiple players that have signed collegiate scholarships, twenty-three of which signed with Division I schools.
PCS Athletic Director Josh Sherer shares, “Coach Bobby Carr is quite simply, a man who pursues excellence and who leads others in excellence. In the same breath, Coach Carr is a walking story of redemption. Our student-athletes live in an age of constant pressure around every turn, and while I know Coach Carr will bring us great victory on the football field, I am more excited about the victory I pray the Lord would give him in the hearts of his players through the way he authentically lives and loves. He brings a new energy to PCS and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store in the future.”
On Tuesday, May 18th, Coach Carr met with players and parents of parents to share his story of immense success, deep valleys, and what the Lord has shown him through it all. Over the coming weeks and months, Coach Carr hopes to meet many more in the PCS Family and humbly do the same.
Coach Bobby Carr shares, “I never thought I would leave Alabama, not in a million years. But through the journey of my life, it has been made clear that God’s plans are often surprising and beyond that which we could ever imagine. Presbyterian Christian School’s mission excites me as I plan to intentionally build a culture and a program at PCS. I love football and I love leading young men in their faith….it is the Lord’s call on my life. I am beyond thrilled to be a part of this special PCS Family and for all God has in store for us in the years ahead. GO BOBCATS!”
PCS Director of Communications, Kami Bonner adds, “Coach Carr’s walk with the Lord reminds me that we all find equal ground at the foot of the cross. The truth is, if there was such a thing as a ‘perfect’ leader or a ‘perfect’ coach, it would not be what we would need, what our students would need. What our student-athletes need is an authentically broken man who will humbly point them to their need of a Savior in Jesus. If they win a few (or dozens!) of football games in the process, you certainly won’t see me complaining. Coach Carr ushers in a new era of football and of the sweet grace of redemption received here at PCS.”
Coach Bobby Carr plans to kick off all football operations in the next couple of weeks.
Join us in Welcoming Coach Bobby Carr and son Tripp (22) to the PCS Family!
