Stallworth resigns as Bulldogs#039; coach
Published 12:00 am Thursday, February 9, 2006
When Tony Stallworth looks back on his basketball coaching career he can't help but to be reminded of the three straight championships he led the Bulldogs to from 1993-95.
So which championship was the most gratifying?
None of them.
Stallworth said his most memorable season of his 19 seasons as Brantley's basketball coach was his third when he led the Bulldogs to an 18-9 mark. It was a year later that Stallworth guided Brantley to its first of three-straight titles and the berth of a basketball dynasty in south Alabama.
Now Stallworth is two weeks removed from his seat along the Brantley bench as head boys' basketball coach. Stallworth submitted his letter of resignation as boys' basketball coach to the Crenshaw County Board of Education on Tuesday so that he could focus his time and efforts on Brantley High as the school's principal.
“The basketball season will soon be over, but school still will go on,” Stallworth said. “I got out to the gym and being on the outside looking in, I feel like I don't fit anymore. Š But the thing I told my superintendent is that if that basketball program can stand firm, I don't mind moving on.”
Stallworth took over as principal just before the Thanksgiving break when former principal ****name here**** resigned to take a job near his hometown in south Florida.
While Stallworth is principal of the school, assistant coach Andrew Kilcrease is the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Kilcrease has picked up where Stallworth has left off. The Bulldogs are ranked No 3 in the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 1A poll with a 14-5 record before Friday's game with Pleasant Home
“I think he has faith in me,” Kilcrease said of Stallworth. “I think he trusts me with these guys, and I trust he will be supportive of me.”
So far Kilcrease is 5-1 as the Bulldogs interim coach. And that record isn't good enough for Kilcrease.
“We lost a game to Ariton that we shouldn't have lost,” he said. “We're just going to have to work harder to get better.”
Kilcrease will remain interim coach until the end of the basketball season after which a decision will be made in regards to the direction the school board wants to go as far as Stallworth staying on as principal or reassuming his duties as basketball coach or not.
If offered the principal's job next school year, Stallworth said he would have to think about it.
“I think they need someone for the long haul,” he said. “I'm only two years from retirement, and the community deserves someone who will give them at least a 15-year run.”