Former Central High Coach Woodrow Lowe calls for school board to reinstate him

Earlier this month, 90-year-old James Lowe Sr. called a family meeting and summoned his three sons to his Phenix City home. Lowe was upset with the way his son, Woodrow Lowe, was being treated in the wake of his May dismissal as Central High School football coach.

“I taught my boys to always be a man,” Lowe Sr. said. “I taught them to stand up for themselves and don’t let anybody making a riding horse out of you. If they are looking for a horse to ride, they need to get another one.”

The family meeting led Woodrow Lowe, 60, to address the Phenix City Board of Education Tuesday night and ask that he be reinstated as head football coach. Central opened the season last Friday night with a victory in new Coach Jamey DuBose’s debut. DuBose declined comment Tuesday night.

“My good name, character and integrity have been questioned,” Woodrow Lowe told the board.

Board President Brad Baker and none of the board members made a comment after the meeting.

“We can’t discuss a personnel matter,” Baker said.

Lowe remains an employee of the Phenix City school district assigned to Central High School, where he teaches physical education.

With his father, younger brother and Phenix City Mayor Eddie Lowe, sitting on the front row, Woodrow Lowe took about 10 minutes to outline the issues with termination as coach. Brother James Lowe Jr., president of Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Ala., was not there, but did attend the family meeting a couple of weeks ago.

“Due to the fact that my name has been defamed, I am compelled to protect myself and refute all allegations against me,” Lowe told the board as he read from a prepared statement. “You can take my All-American status, my Hall of Fame status or any other material things I possess, but I refuse to let you defame my name for your own justification.”

Lowe, a 1972 Central High graduate, was a three-time All-American player at the University of Alabama under Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame and played 12 seasons in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers.

Lowe told the board that there had been accusations about poor health, which he denied. Lowe also mentioned an incident involving a student in which a police report was filed. Lowe had a copy of the report. He did not got into specifics about the incident, but said, “I have never harmed a player, student or anyone else.”

Lowe also said people have been talking about the fact that he was disorganized and his practices ran too long.

Principal Tommy Vickers said in May that the decision to relieve Lowe of his coaching responsibilities was made by a combination of himself, his administrative staff, then interim superintendent Rod Hinton and staff at the school board.

The Phenix City School Board has maintained that Woodrow Lowe was not fired as head football coach because under Alabama law a coach cannot attain tenure and is employed for a year’s term under a supplemental contract, then board attorney Sydney Smith said in May. He was not offered a supplemental contract for the 2014-2015 School Year.

Lowe contended since the board voted to hire him on Jan. 28, 2010, it must take a vote to terminate him as coach. The board has taken no such action and has maintained Lowe’s personnel move was an administrative action.

Lowe claimed that his removal had been in the works for more than a year before it happened.

“It was apparent that the political work had started one year ago when some of my players asked me if I would continue as head coach,” Lowe said. “Also the principal asked me if I wanted to be defensive coordinator.”

Lowe’s attorney, Fred Gray Jr. of Tuskegee, said they will now decide what to do next.

“We are going to challenge this process,” Gray said.

Lowe coached the Red Devils for four seasons. Over that span, he compiled a 33-13 record, but went 6-4 and missed the playoffs last year. Under his watch, the team went 19-7 in region play and 3-3 in the playoffs. His best season was 2011, when he led the Red Devils to an 11-3 record and a berth in the state 6A semifinals.

It did not take Central long to replace Lowe, who was let go on May 19. DuBose, who was at Charles Henderson High in Troy, Ala., was introduced as the new coach on May 26. DuBose, who won two 6A state titles as head coach at Prattville High School, left Charles Henderson without coaching a game.

At the time of his hiring, DuBose said that Board of Education member Ricky Carpenter reached out to him and asked him to apply for the job.

“Why did a board member interject himself into the recruitment process for the current head football coach?” Lowe asked the board.

At the end of his remarks, Lowe addressed each board member individually, basically telling each of them how they know him.His remarks for Carpenter were pointed.

“Mr. Carpenter you called me a legend in an article in the Ledger-Enquirer,” Lowe said. “I can assure you I am more than a myth. I am a man, a husband, father, son, brother, teacher, grandfather — and I am a human being.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2014 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Former Central High Coach Woodrow Lowe calls for school board to reinstate him."