BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — When Jonathan Chandler received the call, he had to pray over what would be a tough decision. He had taken the head football coaching job at Montgomery Catholic less than a year ago, and his young family loved the community they had just spread roots in.
In the end, the opportunity to return to Opelika High School to lead his alma mater proved to be just the opportunity he needed after checking the majority of his boxes.
The Bulldogs now have their new head football coach after the Opelika City Schools Board of Education on Jan. 7 tapped Chandler to take the program’s reins.
Chandler, an Opelika native and OHS graduate, returned home 19 days after previous head coach Bryan Moore abruptly resigned on Dec. 19, days after leading the Bulldogs to the 7A state championship game.
In his opening remarks after the board unanimously approved his hiring, Chandler thanked the board for placing their trust in him and emphasized how excited he was to immediately get to work.
“I’m a product of Opelika High School,” Chandler said. “I am very excited to be here. My wife, Tiffany, and our daughters, Stallings and Spivey, who are here with us today, we can’t really explain how excited we are. Being home is the cherry on top. What really excited us about this job was the emphasis on academics, the new projects that are coming in the athletics world [and] maybe the addition of some new schools that, selfishly, my own daughters will get to go through that and walk through that. We hope to be here for a very long time and they can be Opelika graduates. But again, I can’t thank you enough, and Go Dawgs.”
According to OCS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Davis, last Wednesday’s approval was the culmination of a search that vetted a wide variety of candidates. By the time it ended, the board had determined the ideal candidate was just down Interstate 85.
“There were a lot of people interested in this job because it is one of the best jobs, if not the best job, in the state to get,” Davis said. “We were able to call a multitude of people, and it kept coming back to one person who we felt was very qualified for this job. I think we can hire a million football coaches at Opelika, but we want to hire someone who can turn young men into good fathers and good leaders and good members of this great community we live in. And I believe we did that with JC Chandler.”
At the local level, the hiring has also given Opelika’s leaders cause for optimism. In a rapidly-growing community, the chance to have someone who grew up in the area is special according to Opelika Mayor Eddie Smith.
“As the mayor of the city of Opelika, it doesn’t give me any more happiness than to welcome Jonathan Chandler back to Opelika,” Smith said. “We’ve been talking football coaches and we’ve had great football coaches, and we’ve been talking about JC for about 16 years. Now that we’ve got you home, you ain’t going anywhere.”
A Bulldog through and through
Sitting at an empty boardroom-style table inside the Opelika City Schools Board of Education building, legendary former OHS head football coach Spence McCracken beamed. Very few head coaches get to see one of their former players take over in the same capacity, and he was one of them.
When looking back on his own illustrious career as OHS’ head football coach from 1995 until 2008, McCracken can remember plenty of players. Of the two quarterbacks he recalled as his most talented, one was Chandler.
While OHS’ signal caller, Chandler led the Bulldogs to the state semifinals as a senior and the quarterfinals as a sophomore. After suffering a broken collarbone that prematurely ended his junior season, he earned an all-state honorable mention selection after passing for 1,293 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior.
In fact, it was Chandler’s final game for OHS — a 24-21 6A home semifinal playoff loss to Daphne High School — that stands out the most in McCracken’s mind when reminiscing on his career as a player.
Toward the end of what was a hard-fought game, Chandler led the Bulldogs down the field to score what appeared to be the game-winning touchdown with 1:03 left in the game.
With OHS up 21-17, it appeared it had punched its ticket to the state championship game in Birmingham. As history has recorded, however, a late collapse by the Bulldogs’ defense allowed the Trojans to score with mere seconds left and end OHS’ season in heartbreaking fashion.
Still, Chandler’s guts and poise on what proved to be his final drive as a high school player have stuck with McCracken for all these years.
It’s a legacy and dedication that he said will lead to “really good things” for the Bulldogs as Chandler looks to make his mark on the program.
“He’s a really, really dedicated man who’s going to put football next to his family. He’s got a great family, great wife,” McCracken said. “I said, ‘you’ve got a hard name to live up to, boy.’ But he’s going to be good, he’s going to do good. He told me in that room just a minute ago, I said, ‘When are you starting?’ He said he’s starting tomorrow morning.”
Coaching experience
After graduating from OHS in 2006, Chandler signed with Troy University, where he played quarterback and wide receiver before graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education.
Shortly after his playing career ended, Chandler joined the Trojans’ staff as a graduate assistant for two years while earning his Master of Science in Sport and Fitness Management.
Following his time at Troy, Chandler returned to Opelika and worked for Opelika City Schools for nearly a decade in numerous instructional and coaching positions before accepting a coaching job at Wetumpka High School.
In 2024, Chandler was named the offensive coordinator at Pike Road High School, where the Patriots scored 32 points and averaged 358.6 total yards of offense per game.
PRHS went 10-4 that season, winning the 6A Region 2 title before falling to 6A runner-up Saraland High School in the semifinals.
5A powerhouse Montgomery Catholic then chose Chandler last February to replace Kirk Johnson, who left the school after winning back-to-back state titles and 29 straight games in his final two seasons.
As a first-year head coach, Chandler led the Knights to an 8-5 record, won the 5A Region 2 title and appeared in the quarterfinals. MC scored 29.4 points, allowed 19.7 points and gained 273.8 total yards of offense.
