By Gene Stanley/Sports Correspondent
Despite a 27-17 record in four seasons, including three state playoff berths, Etowah High football coach Sam McCorkle apparently was asked to resign. His resignation was accepted at last week’s Attalla City Schools Board of Education meeting.
The program seemed headed in the right direction, as Etowah went 17-6 the past two years. In 2011, the Blue Devils won both their first region title and playoff game since 2005.
In his four years at Etowah, McCorkle posted a 27-17 record.
However, EHS principal John Serafini thinks that this year’s record may have made a difference. The Blue Devils posted a 7-4 mark, but that came one year after a 10-2 record.
“There are people around this program who want to win big in every sport,” Serafini said. “A 7-4 record may not have been what some people wanted after that big year last year.”
McCorkle did note that the 2011 team had the potential to make the Super Six, but an inadvertent whistle cost them that chance in the second round.
“But we graduated a lot of good players from that team,” he said. “It’s not possible to stay on that level year after year, not in the beginning of a coach’s tenure. After 10 years at a school, that’s a possibility – but not after four.”
After the meeting, McCorkle said that superintendent David Bowman asked him to resign, but Bowman denied the charge.
“I’m still not sure what I was supposed to have done or not done,” McCorkle said. “But I know it’s not the way I wanted to end my stay here. I’m going to have some great memories of my four years coaching the Blue Devils.”
McCorkle praised the work ethic of both the athletes and the coaches.
He said that he had the chance to work with some outstanding young men, on and off the field.
He also had high praise for Serafini, calling him “a principal who understands athletics and what it takes to field a team.”
McCorkle noted that the program is in better shape than it was four years ago.
