UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis named national coach of the year

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis was named the National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Coach of the Year Thursday night in Lincoln, Neb.

Curtis, 72, who became the all-time winningest high school coach in Alabama history last season, is about to embark on his 35^th season as a head coach. He is 348-93 overall with eight state championships, all in 25 years at UMS-Wright.

Curtis gave credit to others for his accomplishments and said he got emotional during the ceremony thinking about his late father, Q.T. Curtis, and former Bulldogs players Joe Grady and Michael Scott, who are also deceased.

“It’s very humbling,” Curtis said. “You think of all the people who helped you get to this point, some still living and a lot not. All the credit goes to other people. I could not get my mind off my family and former players. I really don’t know why but standing up there, I thought about my dad, Joe and Michael. It was very emotional.”

Curtis was also the first coach from Alabama to be named the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coach of the Year in 2019.

The legendary coach is showing no signs of slowing down.

“I don’t know how close I was to (retiring) but I get closer to it every year,” Curtis said told the Call News in a series of stories last February. “It’s a young man’s game. I tried to come up with negative things, things I don’t enjoy doing any more, but the things having to do with the players and coaches and the weekend work, none of that is negative.

“It’s hard to quit something when you’ve got it in a pretty good situation. We’re still winning consistently and as long as that keeps up, we’ll be OK.”