Gaston’s varsity football program will start the season with Randy Dupree Jr. at the helm.
“Everybody has been great,” Dupree said. “The teachers have been great, and the parents and all the kids are very excited. We’re excited, my wife and kids and I.”
This is Dupree’s first year as a head coach of the football program but he said he has been coaching since 2012. He began his career at Cherokee County before moving to Albertville and then his alma mater, Etowah, but for the last three seasons he has been the defensive coordinator for Gaston. Dupree said he is grateful for the opportunity he has been given.
“I’m really thankful that they gave me a shot,” Dupree said. “They didn’t know me… They trusted me and they trusted hearing my plan.”
Over the past three years Gaston has gone 8-22, which was an improvement from the three years prior where they went 1-29, but they have not had a winning season since 2016 under Swane Morris, according to Alabama High School Football Historical Society.
Dupree was hired after a three month search for a new coach when Derek Sewell announced his departure in December to pursue other career paths. This is the fourth change in coach for Gaston since Matt Harris who coached from 2020-2022.
Dupree said he plans on getting back to a more physical style of football. He said he wants what’s best for the students and wants to put them in the best situation to win as possible.
“I want people to understand it’s not about me,” Dupree said. “I’m not afraid to ask for help. I need the whole community to be involved and the parents. I’m just trying to bring everybody together and everybody be a part of this, but I think we’ve got something beautiful”
Growing up, Dupree played football for Etowah. In 2004 he played as a Running Back in the AHSAA-University of Alabama All-Star Game. He said he still has a relationship with Coach Gene Hill and he looks forward to having the same relationship with his athletes in the future.
Dupree credits his mother and family for getting him to where he is today. He said his mom is the reason he began to play in the first place.
“I grew up with a single mother,” Dupree said. “So, she was working and getting me back and forth to football practice. So, you know, without her, I don’t even know if I would have liked football.”
