Central football assistant leaves for head coaching opportunity

After working toward becoming a head coach for several years, Central football assistant Cody Flournoy has finally gotten that chance.

Flournoy was named the new head coach at Beulah on June 13. Flournoy spent the past two seasons as the Red Devils safeties coach. Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator at Smiths Station, his alma mater.

“(My wife and I have) been in this process on and off for the last five years, and so each year we’d kind of get our hopes up,” Flournoy told The Auburn-Opelika News. “So we finally got the nod on this one and it worked out really well as far as being close to home and things like that. She was so excited. I told her, ‘I’m really excited too, but now I got the job and there’s a lot of work to be done.’”

Central head coach Jamey DuBose said he could relate to the process Flournoy has gone through the past few years. DuBose experienced one similar at the start of his coaching career, and he used those lessons in conversations with Flournoy when opportunities were given to other candidates.

“Cody had interviewed for several jobs, and Cody had finished second for several jobs just like I did went I went through it a long time ago,” said DuBose, who got his first head coaching job at Susan Moore High School in 2002. “I told him some questions he should have answered, and he went back out there. He said, ‘Coach, they’re saying all the right things. I said, ‘Well, man, you know how hard it is to get a job as a head coach. If that’s the way you feel, then that’s the one you need to go (take).’”

DuBose lauded Flournoy’s defensive knowledge, which will come in handy as he settles in. Beulah went 1-9 in 2016 and has not made the state playoffs since 2007. The Bobcats have not won a playoff game since 1994.

DuBose said it’s his aim to help any assistant who wants to become a head coach get that chance. That drive to step up into a bigger role is also something DuBose seeks from his coaches.

“It’s great (to have long-term assistants), but I want to know that I’ve got a guy who wants to be a college coach,” DuBose said. “I don’t want a coach who coaches for us and has no ambition of getting better. A lot of coaches may fear that. I love my coaches, but if one leaves and I’m going to bring a new one in, I want it to be a head coach.”

Flournoy has left for his first shot at being a head coach, but to DuBose, that doesn’t mean he isn’t still welcomed as part of the Central program.

“He’s always got us to call back if he needs help or anything else,” DuBose said. “We have a slogan around here: ‘Once a Red Devil, always a Red Devil.’”

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Central football assistant leaves for head coaching opportunity."