How Saint James School landed on Aubrey Blackwell as its next head football coach
It's a new era of football at Saint James School with the announcement of its new football coach Aubrey Blackwell on Wednesday afternoon.
Former head coach Neal Posey took his football expertise to Florida and joined the UCF football coaching staff as an offensive analyst last month. Head of School Dr. Larry McLemore and athletic director Katie Barton wasted no time finding the next coach for the Trojans.
Throughout the search process, McLemore's and Barton's mission was to bring in a person whose goals aligned with the school's core values of character, commitment, courage and community. Several candidates in and out of the state of Alabama applied for this role according to McLemore, causing for a vacancy in the position for just over a month. After Spring Break, Blackwell was the man chosen for the job.
More: Saint James football hires former Montgomery Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell
"Losing coach Posey going to the collegiate level was a little bit of a shock. but at the end of the day, our Trojan family is extremely happy for him and what he has done here at Saint James," Barton said. "We interviewed some really great candidates from all across the southeast and we narrowed things down going into spring break and that's when we knew coach Blackwell was our guy."
"Aubrey is a man of character and that is the kind of leader he is," McLemore said. "He intentionally builds leadership in boys and that's what we were looking for here at Saint James. We have an outstanding tradition and football program. Bringing coach Blackwell in with this amazing coaching staff we have is a great team of men to have at this program and we are excited to see what they'll do."
Family man back Home in Montgomery
A native of the River Region, Blackwell spent the last two years in Jackson, Mississippi serving as the head football coach and athletic director at Jackson Academy. With the goal of one day coming back home, Blackwell is grateful for the opportunity to be back and said his decision to return was family driven.
"I knew I was returning in the last 48 hours, and it has been a quick turnaround," Blackwell said. "When I first put my name in the hat for this job, I expressed how my family, and I would love an opportunity to come back home. We are a family-oriented group and I'm very fortunate to have parents that are involved in me, and my kids' lives. The last two years they have not been able to be involved at all living four hours away so that was really tough. When this opportunity presented itself, it will not only benefit me, but my kids will be able to finish up school here as well."
Blackwell is returning to Saint James School where he was the assistant head football coach and offensive coordinator from 2012-2014 and helped the team secure its first region championship. Blackwell also previously served as the assistant football and baseball coach at Saint Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile from 2010-2012 and held several collegiate-level baseball coaching jobs from 2004-2010.
As a head coach he coached at Montgomery Catholic from 2015-20 and spent a season at Benjamin Russell in 2021. In Blackwell's final season with Catholic, the Knights fell short to Fyffe in the state championship game.
With the Trojans, Blackwell plans on being the primary play caller and keeping on the returning coaching staff. He promised fans that this year's team will play a very physical and fast brand of football.
"For us our culture is going to be built on being physical because the Trojan toughness is instilled here, and our kids know that," Blackwell said. "That is something the previous coaches has built this program on, and I will continue to do that. Defensively we are going to play aggressive, and we want to be a relentless tenacious group. I will be calling the plays on Friday nights. I'm an offensive guy and that is where my background is. I'm inheriting a football staff where I will be able to learn and grow from, so I'm excited."
Playing Montgomery Catholic and relationship with Kirk Johnson
In the two years Blackwell has been out of Montgomery, the football power rankings around the River Region have shifted. Montgomery Catholic is coming off its first state championship last season and open its 2024 season against Saint James.
Blackwell and Catholic coach Kirk Johnson coached together and are longtime friends. Johnson wasted no time thanking Blackwell during his postgame press conference after winning the state title last December.
"I also want to thank a very special person in Aubrey Blackwell, he was a guy who believed in me, (gave me a) chance when nobody knew my name."
When talking about their week zero matchup against one another he compared it to the first time they met each other was during a pickup basketball game.
"I cannot be prouder of Kirk and his staff. He has taken that program to the next step and made it his own," Blackwell said. "I look forward to see what they are doing down the line because he is a brother to me.
"Now do I look forward to competing with him? Oh man. I think he will tell you we have a great first story on how we met each other, and we got on the basketball court and played a pickup game. That was kind of our way of feeling each other out and we found out really quick that we are extremely competitive people. That will not change from the kickoff to the last whistle. I'm gonna hug his neck before and after the game, but from kickoff to the final whistle we are competitors at heart. I'm happy for his success and looking forward to what I build here at Saint James."
Jerry Humphrey III is a sports writer for the Montgomery Advertiser who covers area high school sports, Auburn recruiting and Alabama State athletics. Follow him on Twitter @jerryhump3.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Aubrey Blackwell on his return to Montgomery and Kirk Johnson
