By Rubin E. Grant
Coming into the 2021 high school football season, Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager wasn’t sure what kind of team the Spartans would field.
Mountain Brook had graduated 40-plus seniors off its 2020 team that reached the Class 6A semifinals.
“We’re going to have some guys who have to step up,” Yeager said before the season.
Well, those new guys stepped up and Yeager and his staff coached them up.
Relying on a dominating defense that recorded a school-record seven shutouts and an efficient offense, the Spartans finished 12-2 and reached the Class 6A semifinals before falling 24-18 to eventual champion Clay-Chalkville. Mountain Brook’s other loss was a 51-0 setback to Class 7A champion Thompson.
Mountain Brook’s surprising season earned Yeager the 2021 OTM Coach of the Year honor in balloting by Over the Mountain coaches.
“I’m honored,” Yeager said. “After graduating the second or third biggest senior class since I’ve been here, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but these guys maxed out their potential. Whatever their ceiling was they hit it.
“The kids bought into what we were doing, and it was a complete joy to be around them.”
Yeager was complimentary of the nearly 30 seniors on the team and enjoyed seeing them have success.
“I am so proud of our senior group,” he said. “When they were in the seventh grade, they won only one game, when they were in the eighth were in the ninth grade they won only two games. grade, they won only one game and when they
“But this season, these guys rallied. They led. They pulled this team together. They trended upward every week. They improved every single week. It’s a tribute to them that we did as well as we did.”
Yeager also gave a nod to his coaching staff.
“We had a close-knit football team, but it started at the top with the coaches,” Yeager said. “This may have been the closest we’ve ever been. We had guys such as Robert Evans and Shane Stearns, and guys who have been head coaches elsewhere. Any one of those guys could do my job. They displayed loyalty and cooperation.”
As for the job he did, Yeager said simply, “I grew a lot and I learned a lot.”
