Kecoughtan coach calls it quits after eight seasons
Alonzo Coley has been a fixture on the Darling Stadium sidelines in Hampton for 13 football seasons, the past eight as Kecoughtan’s head coach. If he’s on a sideline next year, it will likely be somewhere else.
Coley has resigned as the Warriors’ coach, saying he feels that he’s “taken the program as far as I can.” He did not rule out the possibility of a return to coaching.
“I thought it was time for a new voice at Kecoughtan High School,” said Coley, whose teams were 36-48 in his eight seasons. “I felt there was something else out there for me to achieve.”
He achieved plenty during his 13 seasons in Hampton. Coley was the offensive coordinator for two of his five seasons with Phoebus, which won four Class 5-level state championships in that span.
“Coaching with him, I got to know him very well,” said current Phoebus head coach Jeremy Blunt, who was an assistant for the Phantoms when
Coley was there. “He’s very analytical with what he’s doing and gets his players in great position to win ballgames.
“He’s a great adjuster, which is something we pride ourselves on (at Phoebus). That comes from being part of the (late) Bill Dee and Stan Sexton coaching tree.”
It also made Coley in demand when struggling Kecoughtan — just two or so miles down the road from Phoebus — needed a new coach for the 2012 season. After winning nine games total in his first two seasons, Coley’s Warriors matched that during a 9-3 season in 2014 that included a regional playoff win over Western Branch.
The Warriors’ best season in the remainder of Coley’s tenure came in 2018, when they went 7-4 and reached the Class 5 Region A playoffs.
“That was a special group of kids and it was a joy coaching them,” Coley said of the 2018 team that included first-team all-state selections Jonathan Melvin and Chandler Perry.
Unfortunately for Coley, the Warriors
graduated a staggering 25 seniors from that team. That sent the program into full rebuilding mode for 2019, when the Warriors won only once.
“You’ve got to look past the record from this season, because he knows what he’s doing,” Blunt said.
Warriors senior James Mozelle, who played in the Peninsula’s 14-7 win over the Southside in the 757 All-Star Classic at Christopher Newport University on Saturday, agrees.
“Coach Coley brought me up to the varsity as a freshman and put his trust in me at safety,” Mozelle said. “If he knows you can do something, he’ll let you do it and won’t try to change you. “He taught me everything I know.” Coley could get a chance to impart that knowledge to more young football players soon. It just won’t be in the familiar environs of Darling Stadium.
“I’ll miss the city rivalries against Hampton, Bethel and Phoebus, but I know there are some more things out there for me,” Coley said. “I’m going to coach again, I’m just not sure where yet.”