Mike Dean to be recommended for Charles Henderson football job

Troy City Schools Superintendent Lee Hicks had seen Mike Dean’s work in person a couple of times before and left with a favorable impression each time.

It appears Hicks will get an even more close up look of Dean’s work next year.

Dean, who was at Daleville in 2008 and at Valley last year, will be recommended tonight as the new head coach at Charles Henderson to the Troy City School Board, Hicks told the Dothan Eagle Wednesday.

“Yes, Mike Dean is the candidate we will recommend,” Hicks said when asked about the recommendation.

Dean, if approved by the board, would also be the athletic director and a physical education teacher at CHHS. If hired, he would replace longtime coach Hugh Fountain, who resigned last month after 16 years with the program. Fountain has since taken the head football job at Escambia Academy.

In addition to being head coach at Daleville and Valley, Dean was head football coach at McGill-Toolen in 2009-10. In his five years, he has a 32-15 career record.

Hicks, a principal at Prattville High School before coming to Troy this year, saw Dean work when the coach was defensive coordinator at McGill-Toolen in 2005-07 and again last fall when Charles Henderson played Dean’s Valley team.

“When I was in Prattville High School, he was an assistant at McGill-Toolen and we faced them a couple of times and they were always prepared and impressive,” Hicks said. “We also played against him last year (at CHHS). All of his teams were well-coached.

“Then speaking to him (in interviews), he had a clear vision of what he plans to do at Charles Henderson. He brings a Class 6A mentality and work ethic of what he wants to implement at Charles Henderson, if the board approves him.”

Hicks added he and Charles Henderson principal Dr. Boyd English have talked to board members already about Dean.

“I feel everything will work out,” Hicks said of tonight’s board action.

Hicks said more than 70 applications were received for the position and that he and English narrowed the list to 12 who were then interviewed. Hicks said the two narrowed the list more and had conversations about the finalists with board members before deciding on Dean.

“He was very energetic,” Hicks said of Dean in interviews. “You could truly tell he loves high school football. He had a lot of passion in our interview and you could see that in the way his teams played too.

“In making this decision, Dr. English and I, in speaking to board members, felt he would be the guy that could take us to the next level in Class 4A, although it will be a challenge.”

The Trojans, after 27 years in Class 5A, are dropping to Class 4A this season and will be in an region with Beauregard, Alabama Christian, Ashford, Bullock County, Headland, St. James and Tallassee (and new coach Mike Battles).

Dean guided Daleville to a 9-4 record and the Class 3A state quarterfinals in 2008. It was the program’s first winning record in six years and the furthest advancement in the playoffs since the same 2002 season.

Dean then went 14-8 at McGill-Toolen with two playoff teams and was 9-3 with a second-round playoff team last year at Valley.

He spent his first 10 years as an assistant coach at four different schools, starting in 1995 at Fairhope, his alma mater where he played for his father, Joe, a legendary coach in the Mobile area. Dean served as running backs coach the first two years at Fairhope before being elevated to offensive coordinator.

After five seasons at Fairhope, he moved to Shades Valley in Birmingham where he coached the offensive and defensive lines and was special teams coordinator for one season (2001).

Dean then went to Theodore in 2002-04, serving as defensive backs coach. He was also the boys and girls tennis coach there.

He was then hired as defensive coordinator at McGill-Toolen and spent three years (2005-07) there before going to Daleville. While at McGill, his defense ranked third in Class 6A in fewest points allowed in 2007 (128 points in 14 games) during a 13-1 season ended by eventual state champion Prattville in the state semifinals.

Dean attended Auburn University from 1990-94, serving as a manger then as a graduate assistant coach before taking his first job at Fairhope.