Hale County Hires Etowah's Ryan Locke As Next Football Coach

MOUNDVILLE, AL — Etowah High School football coach Ryan Locke on Thursday was introduced as the new head coach of the Hale County High School Wildcats football team.

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"We cannot wait to be involved in this community and to help mold some fine young men," Locke said on Twitter Thursday. "I look forward to joining the great faculty and staff of Hale County."

He will replace Luke Laird, who left the school earlier this spring to become director of Workforce Development at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi. The Wildcats are coming off a 6-6 campaign in 2021, with a 3-3 record in AHSAA Class 3A, Region 3.

In AHSAA Class 4A, Region 6, Locke led Etowah High to a 6-5 overall record and a 5-1 mark in their region in 2021. Over his two seasons as head coach for the Blue Devils, his teams posted a 17-9-1 record and had only one region loss.

Originally born in Alexander City, Locke is a graduate of Benjamin Russell High School and went on to get his degree from Troy University before embarking on a career in coaching.

His first coaching job after working as a student assistant at Troy and a graduate assistant at UAB would come coaching fullbacks and tight ends at the University of West Georgia. From there, he took his coaching skills to Cumberland University, where he was an assistant for The Phoenix from July 2011 - May 2015. Two of those years, he served as offensive coordinator.

After receiving his master's degree, Locke and his wife decided moved back to Alabama, where Locke has had teaching and coaching stops at Northridge High School, Foley High School and Tuscaloosa County High School.

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