Former Central High Star Named Next Head Football Coach For Falcons

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Former Central High School star running back Demario Pippen has been named the next head football coach at his alma mater.

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"It’s a huge opportunity for me first and foremost as a coach and an alumni and this is big-time 6A football," Pippen told Patch on Tuesday. "I’m a kid that grew up in the projects, in poverty, in a single parent home, so I can relate to these kids and the mentality I just want to show the kids is that Central is more than mediocre."

This will be Pippen's first high school head coaching job, after serving as a head football coach and athletic director at Eastwood Middle School. He will take the place of Rodney Bivens, Jr., who resigned from his role after three seasons and a dismal 8-22 record with no playoff appearances.

"I know the history here, I know the tradition and the first thing I want to address is establishing a work ethic," Pippen said. "When it comes to being successful, work ethic has to be established and we are gonna grind. That’s the very first thing from jump."

Pippen also said he planned to add an emphasis on the classroom and teaching his student athletes to take their education seriously, while promoting the importance of investing for a career or trade after sports if college isn't what they want to do.

"It can't all be about going to play at the next level or to play in college," he said. "But there is a process we want to follow. I can help them with things like being recruited, because I've lived all of that."

Pippen is easily considered among the gridiron greats to come from Central High, playing a crucial role on the school's 2007 undefeated 4A state title team.

He would go on to play three years at Jackson State and a year at Tuskegee, before making it to rookie mini camp with the NFL's Denver Broncos. He also played in the arena league for two years with the Minnesota Axemen.

"The main thing was just having an underdog mentality and when [the split of Central High] happened, we felt like everybody counted us out," Pippen told Patch in October. "We were already from the west side of town, so we already felt like people thought we were just gonna end up being statistics and we just had that chip on our shoulders to beat the odds and put the work in to be successful."

Indeed, Pippen is sure to bring that tenacious mix of underdog mentality and a sense of history to Central High in the hopes of resurrecting a once-great program.

"We knew we were on hallowed ground and knew about all the legends that played there," Pippen said in the same October interview.

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