By Lee Davis
The news at Vestavia Hills last week was all about two coaches and one new logo.
First, the good news. Rebel athletic director Jeff Segars moved swiftly and decisively with the recommendation to the Board of Education to hire two new coaches to direct Vestavia’s boys basketball and wrestling programs.
In both cases Segars was replacing veteran coaches with long-time records for success. The basketball vacancy occurred after the retirement of George Hatchett, who directed the program for three decades and earned two state championships. The fact that Vestavia had little basketball tradition before Hatchett took over the helm made his record all the more impressive.
If anything, the wrestling hire was even more difficult. Steve Gaydosh retired after leading the Rebel program to 12 state championships and eight runner-up finishes in 34 years at Limerock Road.
Segars went outside the Vestavia family to find a basketball coach, while for the wrestling coach position he stayed closer to home.
Patrick Davis was tapped for the basketball job. Davis compiled a 121-86 worksheet at Thompson, including three area titles and a regional playoff appearance. The Birmingham Tipoff Club named him Metro Area Coach of the Year in 2013.
Davis told media outlets he planned to bring an exciting style to the Rebel offense.
“We’re going to play a brand of basketball that’s fun and starts with the concept of being a great teammate,” Davis said. “We’re going to have an up-tempo style and challenge our guys to make our team better every day.”
That’s basic coach-speak, but it also sounds a lot like the philosophy of ultra-successful Mountain Brook coach Bucky McMillan.
Accepting the challenge of filling Gaydosh’s large shoes is former Vestavia wrestling star Monterrious “Tee” Adams. Adams had coached at Hewitt-Trussville and Oxford before answering the call from his alma mater. A Gaydosh protégé, he was a member of two state championship teams and won two individual crowns.
“It’s an honor to come back and have the chance to build on the successes of Coach Gaydosh,” Adams said. “I hope I can bring a new wave of excitement to what’s already here. I consider myself at home and I’m ready to get to work.”
Adams said his wrestling philosophy might be a shade different from his mentor’s.
“We’ll bring in a bit of an attacking approach,” he explained. “I like to be aggressive in scoring points.”
The new coach is quick to add that most of the changes will be on the margins.
“It’s not like we have to be at square one and start over,” Adams said. “We’ll just go in and pick up where Coach Gaydosh left off and hopefully make things even better.”
Vestavia’s athletic program has been long known for stability on its coaching staff – a continuity that has played a major role in its success. But the Rebel brass has had to fill four high-profile coaching positions in a relatively short time – boys soccer in 2014, baseball in 2015 and now basketball and wrestling in 2016.
Vestavia soccer continues to be successful after the retirement of Rick Grammer, one of America’s winningest coaches in the sport.
In baseball, Rebel assistant Jamie Harris was elevated to the top job following Tommy Walker’s resignation at the end of the 2015 season. Harris has clearly shown he’s up for the job; Vestavia entered the post-season as a favorite for the state 7A title. If Davis and Adams can follow that pattern, Rebel athletics should be in good shape for years to come.
1Rebel?….
While Vestavia officials were busy hiring coaches, the branding firm Knight Eady was earning up to $30,000 of taxpayer money for coming up with a new school logo to replace the Rebel Man mascot that is offensive to some in the community.
Knight Eady, which promised to release the full brand package by next month, previewed the new Vestavia look with a single word: 1Rebel.
Actually the number one merges with the “R” in Rebel to perhaps suggest Vestavia solidarity. How popular the logo will be with Rebel boosters, students and alumni is an open question.
“It looks like a big waste of money to me,” said a 1970s Vestavia alumnus who asked not to be identified. “The logo looks like the “R” from Russell Athletics and took Rebels to a singular word. Maybe they should call us the Vestavia Cavemen because we caved on the issue, but I’m sure that would be found offensive too. I’m not a fan of the change but life will go on.”
Even some present Vestavia students questioned whether the school was getting its money’s worth.
“The school spent so much money on the new logo, I felt like they could have gotten something better,” said a Rebel senior who also asked not to be identified. “I think a student could have done that in about two minutes. It just looks like a font on a word document with the ‘1’ as a different color. It’s nothing special and a waste of money.”
We should probably all suspend judgment until Knight Eady’s full package is made public. In the meantime, the Vestavia community would do well to remember that there is much more to the school’s integrity and tradition than any mascot or logo could ever hope to symbolize. And it doesn’t need a slick marketing campaign as a reminder.
