David Mundy
With 23 years as a high school head football coach, a state championship and a state runner-up finish, and 33 years of coaching experience, Ed Rigby feels he knows a special opportunity when he sees one.
The veteran coach feels the Opp football program is just such an opportunity.
At a special Opp City School District board meeting held Wednesday night, the district approved the hiring of Rigby as the Bobcats' head football coach. Rigby has coached seven high school teams over 23 years, including the past 11 years coaching four teams in Alabama. He won a state title with Elba in 2015 and led the Tigers to a state runner-up finish in 2014.
In addition to his role as head football coach, he will also serve as Opp's athletic director and physical education teacher with an emphasis on weight training.
“We're hoping for big things,” Rigby said. Dothan Eagle “I've been doing this for so many years, you get the vibe. I have that vibe,” he said in a cellphone interview Wednesday night while on a trip to Mississippi with his wife, Chanda, to celebrate the birth of their first grandchild.
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Rigby added, “Opp College is currently building a program with players for the next five to seven years. This is a great opportunity to have another shot at a state championship.”
Rigby replaces Matt Brunson, who resigned just a week ago after just one season with the Bobcats and returned to his alma mater, Baker (Fla.) High School.
In taking over for Opp, Rigby comes 32 miles from his head coaching career at Luverne, where he led the Tigers to a 7-4 record last year in his lone season as head coach. He has a career record of 148-110, including a 95-39 mark at Alabama, and has experience as an assistant coach at four different levels: high school, junior college, NAIA and NCAA.
Prior to taking the job in Luverne, Rigby coached one season at Pike Road, led Eufaula for four seasons (2018-2021) and Elba for five years (2013-17), leading the Patriots to a 7-5 record and an appearance in the second round of the state playoffs in 2022.
“They finished the spring with 98 kids in grades 9 through 12.Number “Coach Brunson has done a great job of getting the kids outside, being disciplined, engaging them in a weight training program and seeing outstanding results,” Rigby said of Opp.
“I want to build on that, put my passion into it and work with this staff to take them somewhere they've never been before, and that's a 4A state championship.”
Opposition Superintendent Michael Smithert said Mr Rigby met all the conditions of the programme.
“We were very specific in the type of person we were looking for,” Smithert said, “We were looking for someone with championship experience who would bring the kind of values and character we were looking for in our program, and Coach Rigby fit that bill perfectly.”
Both Smithart and Opp High School Principal Matt Blake said that while a quick hire is crucial following Brunson's resignation last week, a thorough search is also important.
“June 3 (this Monday) is the start of our summer training program and we felt it was critical that we get this done, but we also felt it was important that we do it quickly,” Blake said. “We wanted to do it right.
“But every day we don't have someone leading the program is a day we're behind. It was important for our kids and coaching staff to maintain some level of normalcy. Maintaining that normalcy and getting our kids back into their routines on scheduled days was one of the most important things we considered.”
Blake said despite the late date of the season starting three months ago, the school system had “over 30 applicants” interested in the Opp job. Ultimately, Rigby was at the top of the list.
“It was a great fit because he won a state championship in a rural city of Elba, very similar to Opp, and had a great career,” Blake said. “Ed Rigby is a really good football coach and a really great person.”
Rigby had a very successful tenure at Elba, leading the Tigers to a 53-12 record in five seasons, winning the Class 2A state title in 2015 and finishing as state runner-up in 2014, both teams finishing with 14-1 records. Dothan Eagle He was named Coach of the Year in both 2014 and 2015 and led Eufaula to a 28-18 record and four consecutive playoff appearances.
Rigby began his coaching career as the defensive and offensive line coach at Independence High School in Louisiana in 1991. He was the line coach at Northwest Rankin (Miss.) in 1992, the offensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Mendenhall (Miss.) in 1993 and then became the head coach at Albany (Louisiana) in 1994. He led Albany to a 12-9 record in his two years there.
Rigby then became head coach at Loranger in Louisiana, where he led the team to a 20-22 record from 1996-1999, including a 10-2 record in 1998 when they made it to the second round of the playoffs.
After stints at Albany and Loranger, he served as offensive line coach at Tabor College in Kansas in 2010 before moving to Holmes Community College where he was offensive coordinator and head football coach for the women's and men's programs.
After three years with Holmes, he became the offensive coordinator at SWAC member Jackson State University in Mississippi, a position he held for two years before taking the head coaching job at Tate High School in Pensacola, Fla. He led Tate for six seasons (2006-2011) but struggled, going 21-40.
He moved to Wiregrass to be an assistant coach at Goshen in 2012, the same year his wife, Chanda, was hired as the head coach of the Troy University women's basketball team. After one season, he was hired as the head coach at Elba and has been the head coach at Alabama ever since.
His next stop will be Opp Park, where he has four wins and seven losses this season.
“I'm thrilled they chose me,” Rigby said. “I'm excited to be a part of what they're doing.”
