Madison County head football coach Randell Owens resigned Monday after eight years on the job. He announced his departure in his closing statements at the Red Raider football team banquet.
The coach will temporarily retain his other duties at the school, including his service as the school’s athletic director. He has announced no long-term plans.
Owens, whose teams have combined for a 3-17 record the past two years, said he foresaw the recent struggles, but remained anyway — until Monday. The coach says he sees brighter days ahead, noting that the recent state reclassification will help Madison County be more competitive. Under the new classification system, Madison County will go from being one of the smallest 4A schools to one of the biggest.
“Several years ago, I knew that our program and our school were going to be going down a very difficult path,” said Owens. “I knew that tough times lay ahead. As a coach, I could have done the easy thing for me personally, and moved on. At that time, I made the difficult decision to stay on and commit all that I had to guiding this program through this difficult period. I now feel that I have done that, and that better times are within reach and just over the horizon for this program and for our school. Unfortunately, for me personally, I feel that the battles that we have fought together have taken a toll on many people’s perception of my ability to continue to effectively lead this program as your head football coach.”
Owens said a football coach must “create unity.”
“After careful consideration and prayer, I now feel that the greatest thing that I personally can do to accomplish this mission is to resign my position as head football coach and pass the baton to someone that everyone can rally around and support,” said Owens. “I feel that for me to continue as your head football coach would be divisive and would be a distraction to the mission.”
Owens compiled an overall 36-46 record at Madison County, leading the Red Raiders to playoff appearances in 2005 and 2006, when the teams finished 7-4 and 8-3 respectively. His squads tallied a 26-16 record in his first four seasons and a 10-30 record in the past four.
FULL STATEMENT:
Here is Owens’ full statement read at the MCHS football banquet:
Over the past eight years, I have always tried to do what I thought was right in guiding the football program here at Madison County High School. I have always tried to do what was best for the school and for the program. I’ve never done what was easiest or what was best for me personally, and in many instances, I have had to make some very hard decisions and stand by them in the face of adversity.
Several years ago, I knew that our program and our school were going to be going down a very difficult path. I knew that tough times lay ahead. As a coach, I could have done the easy thing for me personally, and moved on. At that time, I made the difficult decision to stay on and commit all that I had to guiding this program through this difficult period. I now feel that I have done that, and that better times are within reach and just over the horizon for this program and for our school.
Unfortunately, for me personally, I feel that the battles that we have fought together have taken a toll on many people’s perception of my ability to continue to effectively lead this program as your head football coach.
One of the primary missions of any head football is to create unity within the program. After careful consideration and prayer, I now feel that the greatest thing that I personally can do to accomplish this mission is to resign my position as head football coach and pass the baton to someone that everyone can rally around and support. I feel that for me to continue as your head football coach would be divisive and would be a distraction to the mission. For this reason, I am resigning my position as head football coach at Madison County High School with the sincere hope of refocusing everyone’s energy towards the task at hand.
With the advent of our entering a new classification period, I feel that the future is very bright. I have led you through the hardest part, I am confident that I have laid a foundation that someone else can successfully build on.
For the immediate future, I will continue to serve our school as a teacher and as an athletic director. I have every confidence that Dr. Stone will be able to name a new head football coach in the near future that everyone will be able to rally around and support.
I would like to thank the Madison County High School community for the opportunity to be its head football coach. On behalf of our staff, I want to thank the players for putting their heart and soul into this football program. I hope nothing but the best for all their future endeavors, both on and off the field.
As for me personally, I leave this program holding to our Lords promise in Roman’s 8:28: “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
Also, congrats to the MCHS Band. They are a great organization and there Half-time show was awesome this year. They do their thing well, and part of it is supporting the football team at the games.
In addition, I might add that Randall Owens DID attempt to use MCYA as a program to get these boys to HS ball but; after a couple of seasons of MCYA BS, he pretty much washed his hands of the whole organization. The only fault I personally have with Coach Owens is that (in my opinion) he forced good athletes to play out of position in order to fit HIS system. I personally believe that the last 3 classes, as well as the current 4 classes SHOULD have been or should be some of the best teams in MC history.
Music, on the other hand, has lifetime applications, even to non-musical endeavors. Looks like Madison County knows where to put its emphasis. But I guess you have to have a football game to showcase an award-winning band.
You sit in the stands and blame the referees for losses and the coaches for losing. That's what starts at MCYA and poisons your football. Perhaps you should blame yourselves for perpetuating the Madison County Loser Mentality. The players have no chance to win, after all, the deck is stacked against them, thay've learned, so why put in the practice time?
When I was in school there, the big problem was that the good players had decided to get drunk and or stoned instead of playing ball. It's probably a similar reason now.
People expect a lot from a program whose highlights over 55 years have been a subregion championship and some winning seasons while playing in the weak sisters league.