BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN – As the Auburn High School football team celebrated a 52-41 comeback playoff victory over Vestavia Hills High School, head coach Keith Etheredge’s family waited for him near midfield.
It’s a weekly fall tradition that’s normally indistinguishable week to week at Duck Samford Stadium. However, this time, there was a twist: three balloons and four posters to commemorate Etheredge’s 200th career win as a head coach.
“It was great,” Etheredge said. “My wife walked out there with ‘200’ balloons, and the two flew off. So I’m sitting there going, ‘I’ve got to start all over now.’ But it was great. She was excited about it. I think she was more excited about it than I was. It’s a testament to the men I work with. I’ve worked with some great guys. And the kids that I’ve been able to coach, because without the kids, none of it happens.”
With that victory, Etheredge became one of 16 active head football coaches in Alabama with at least 200 career wins. Of those, only five have a higher career winning percentage. Only four have won more state championships. None of them have been a head coach for fewer seasons or coached in fewer games.
In his 20 years as a head coach, he’s never had a losing season and has made the playoffs every year. He’s taken his teams to the quarterfinals 17 times, the semifinals 10 times and the state championship seven times.
When everything is considered, it places Etheredge in rarified air in Alabama high school football history. Yet for all of his individual accomplishments, he’s quick to credit others for his success.
There’s his mother, who raised three rambunctious boys on her own while trying to keep the household running, and his wife, Allison. There’s Bobby Fairley, Etheredge’s high school head football coach who instilled discipline and a love for sports in him. There are also defensive coordinator Scott Goolsby, offensive coordinator Will Wagnon, the other coaches on his current staff and so many others.
Whether it’s at Erwin High School, Leeds High School, Pell City High School, T.R. Miller High School, Oxford High School or elsewhere, Etheredge found plenty of inspiration while coming up through the coaching ranks step by step.
“I was raised by a single mom, so my coaches were like my father figures,” Etheredge said. “Those guys had a huge influence on me. And I want to do the same thing for my players now. The Lord has truly, truly blessed me in this profession, and I’ve been around some great people. And I say it all the time, I love to win, but the wins and losses aren’t the important things. I think it’s the relationships that you build.”
Included in his now 201 career wins are 51 wins at AHS since taking the job in 2021. Despite initially thinking nothing of the position after it opened, the opportunity to lead the Tigers eventually lured him away from Oxford High School.
His son, Camden, was entering his senior year of high school and wanted to compete at the highest levels of Alabama high school football. A large and growing city offered his family plenty of opportunities. Later on, a meeting with Auburn City Schools Superintendent Dr. Cristen Herring sealed the deal and made the move a “no-brainer.”
It’s a decision that has paid dividends in a community and school district that have given him and his family everything they could have asked for.
“I think that the Lord guided my steps,” Etheredge said. “It’s been a blessing being here. I think we’ve gotten 50 wins in five years, and I think two quarter finals [appearances] and three semifinals [appearances], and the state championship appearance. It’s been a blessing, man. This place has been awesome. Best place I’ve ever worked. Great community, great leadership, and they let you do your job.”
Despite his success thus far, there are still plenty of milestones Etheredge can achieve at Auburn, namely leading the program to its first state championship in December.
However, there is only one goal that matters to him: developing the players he’s been entrusted with leading.
“I just want to help young men grow. There’s nothing else,” Etheredge said. “I can look up there and say, ‘Hey, I’ve won six state championships, I’ve been named coach of the year.’ Everything that I’ve wanted to accomplish in coaching, I’ve accomplished. I’m not looking for wins and losses. I want these kids that play for me to understand that we’re trying to build future fathers, husbands and friends, and we want them to be the best they can be at those three things.”
