Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



He already lives in Fultondale, now he’ll be coaching there.

The Fultondale Wildcats have a new defensive coordinator after Wednesday’s meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Education. David Reed, formerly a coach for four sports at Oak Grove High School, was approved as a new teacher at Fultondale High.

According to Wildcat’s head football coach Keith Register, Reed will take over the Fultondale defense and will help Register coach both the offensive and defensive lines.

Reed, who coached football, boy’s basketball, boy’s golf and softball at Oak Grove, will also oversee the Lady Wildcat’s softball program as head coach.

Reed, 43, lives in Fultondale with his wife Andy and his two children, Ally, 13, and Drew, 8.

Reed’s family has lived in Fultondale for the past several years. He said already having his children in Fultondale schools was a factor in his decision to join the Wildcat’s coaching staff.

“This job was attractive to me, because I live here and my kids are in the school system here,” Reed said. “I’m really happy to be here. I’m looking forward to seeing Fultondale have plenty of success.”

Reed leaves Class 4A Oak Grove after 10 years, to come to a Class 2A school in Fultondale.

“I like being at a smaller school,” Reed said. “At this size school, you get to know the kids better. There’s more one-on-one teaching and coaching here than at a larger school. I really like knowing the players on a more personal basis.”

Before coaching at Oak Grove, Reed spent four years at Bottenfield Middle School and prior to that he taught at now-defunct West Jefferson High School for six years.

Reed sums up his football coaching philosophy in just one word—attack.

“I want an aggressive defense that dictates to an offense what they can and can’t run,” Reed said. “I want my defenders to make the play early. We’ll have a split set on defense and we’ll blitz a lot.”

Reed’s schemes on defense are fairly complicated, so he doesn’t expect to have the entire package in by the Wildcats opening game on Aug. 31.

“I’m hoping to have a large part of it in by the opener,” he said. “I’ll be adding to it and tinkering with it and what we do as I see how our personnel fits my scheme.”

Reed, who coached against the Wildcats back in May when Oak Grove faced off with Fultondale in a spring jamboree game, views his new football team as a program on the rise.

“I think we’ve got enough talent here in Fultondale to have a good defense and to make a run at a playoff spot,” Reed said.