Kennedy resigns as G.W. Long football coach

After 16 games in two years, G.W. Long featured a new head coach Friday night.

Long principal Jason Steed said late Friday afternoon that head football coach George Kennedy resigned earlier in the day, effective immediately.

Assistant coach Scott Horne took over as interim coach during the Rebels’ 35-21 loss at home to Houston County.

“George just felt it was in the best interest of the program to get out, so we could go in a different direction,” Steed said. “We had talked two or three times during the week. He felt it was best to step aside to get new blood in here.”

Efforts by the Eagle to reach Kennedy for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

There had been speculation of unrest among Rebel boosters and parents following last week’s heartbreaking 16-14 loss to Barbour County when the Jaguars scored off an interception and a safety to rally for the win.

However, Steed refused to say if that was any factor in the decision.

“George did what he felt was best for the program and that’s all I am going to say about that,” Steed said when asked about possible community involvement in the decision.

A Wiregrass veteran of 14 seasons as a head coach, Kennedy was in his second year at Long. Last year, the Rebels went winless in 10 games. They were 1-5 prior to Friday’s game, with four of the losses by 12 or fewer points.

Kennedy has a career record of 72-69, highlighted by highly successful stints at Wicksburg and Rehobeth where seven of his 11 teams reached the state playoffs.

He coached at Rehobeth from 2002-2005, amassing a 27-17 record, including a 10-2 mark in his last season in 2005.

He was head coach at Wicksburg for seven years from 1992-98, going 39-36.

A graduate of Lakeside School in Eufaula, Kennedy began his career as an assistant football coach in the 1981-82 academic year at Escambia Academy. He coached five years there.

He then coached at Wilcox Academy and Morgan Academy. While at Morgan, he directed two state basketball championship teams.

He was then an assistant coach for two years at Houston County before becoming the head coach at Wicksburg in 1992.

After his tenure at Wicksburg, Kennedy took an assistant football job at Bob Jones near Huntsville then returned to the Wiregrass as offensive coordinator at Rehobeth in 2001.

He was elevated to the head coaching job a year later when Toby Greene left for Muscle Shoals.

Kennedy left Rehobeth to become head coach at Susan Moore in north Alabama in 2006. However, he coached there only six games, saying at the time that there were “idea” differences between him and members of the coaching staff, all of whom were from that area and on the previous staff.

Kennedy then hooked on an assistant coach at Ashford for the remainder of the season before being hired by G.W. Long to replace longtime coach Jimbo Payne, who left to become assistant principal at Dale County High School.