Former Mary G. Montgomery coach Zach Golson wants an open and independent review of the AHSAA investigation that resulted in his one-year suspension and a playoff ban for the school. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
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“Where is the evidence that my coaches or I initiated contact with these students to persuade them to choose MGM? Where are the messages? Where are the phone calls? Where are the promises of playing time? Where are the payments, jobs, housing arrangements, transportation, gifts, benefits or other inducements? Where is the evidence that we orchestrated a recruiting effort? If that evidence exists, show it.”
Former MGM coach Zach Golson
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SEMMES — An empty chair rests behind the desk that former Mary G. Montgomery head football coach Zach Golson used before being ousted from his job a full two weeks before the Alabama High School Athletic Association ruled he had committed recruiting violations.
Either because of bad vibes or out of respect, new Vikings coach Alex Page refuses to sit in that chair and behind that desk, which has become a repository for jerseys and sundry loose items.
But there are so many loose ends and unanswered questions that officials at the AHSAA and the Mobile County Public School System were mistaken if they hoped Golson would go away after taking his public lashings.
In May, the AHSAA suspended him for a year, slapped MGM with a one-year restrictive probation and playoff ban and declared about 20 players dating back to 2023 permanently ineligible for athletics at the school, according to Golson.
Since then, in keeping with its time-honored code, nobody at the AHSAA has publicly revealed the specific facts that led to the punishment (and never will). Afterward, no members of the AHSAA’s local district board — which is filled with MGM’s rivals — publicly explained why they denied the school’s appeal to have the playoff ban overturned (and never will). It’s fair to raise questions of impartiality or ask if any of them would like the roles reversed and have Golson decide their futures.
It’s also fair to expect full transparency from the AHSAA about its findings, which affect students, parents and thousands of people in communities statewide.
The taxpaying public, which funds these public schools, deserves transparency, not obfuscation. The people of Semmes deserve the truth.
No due process
Unless there is damning evidence the public has not seen nor heard that he masterminded a vast scheme of purposeful cheating, there is a feeling in Semmes that Golson was railroaded and the stench has wafted over the town like the retching smell of a leaking, overflowing garbage can that has drawn maggots for three months.
At the least, he did not get due process — even criminals get that — and warned he is retaining attorneys.
Golson did not deny rules violations had occurred; he stressed he and MGM got the electric chair for tossing a candy wrapper on the sidewalk.
The latest developments came Wednesday, when the Mobile County School Board upheld its mandatory transfer of Golson to another school. He wanted to remain at Mary G. Montgomery in a teaching position.
At the same time, MGM Principal David Diaz said the school will not lodge a final appeal to the AHSAA’s Central Board to overturn the sanctions, although it has a right to do so under AHSAA bylaws. The decision not to appeal is regrettable, hurts the players and will further inflame the people of Semmes to break away from the county school system and form their own.
When it comes to public schools, hiring, firing, transferring and removing people is done at the local level, not by the AHSAA.
“There was an outcry in our community because our coach got fired,” Semmes Mayor Brandon Van Hook said. “It’s created an even more fierce outcry for a Semmes City School System, where we can have more local control going forward.”
Even Golson’s AEA lawyer said Wednesday that Golson might have been targeted by the MCPSS because of his connection to Semmes city officials and their desire to have a city system.
Van Hook went further.
“The whole thing is definitely politically driven,” said Van Hook, who got into a roust with Mobile County School Board Commissioner Johnny Hatcher following the hearing. “(Golson) did not get the opportunity to defend himself. The decision (to remove him) was made prior to any investigation. I don’t know why the decision was made so early. I can only say we know behind the scenes why it was made because, again, I think it’s politically driven. (The school board) brought up the (Semmes) school system multiple times today and that is irrelevant to the topic on hand.”
A month after Mary G. Montgomery was penalized, the AHSAA inflicted the same prohibitions on Pell City’s program and its coach, Jake Ganus, but the local school board let him keep his job and the school is making a final appeal to the AHSAA’s Central Board. Why were Golson and MGM not similarly accommodated?
“If everyone involved believes this process was fair, unbiased and supported by the evidence, then there should be no reason to oppose a complete and independent review of the record,” Golson said in a statement approved by his attorney. “I am willing to have every decision I made, every message I sent, every phone call I made and every action I took examined. I am asking everyone else involved to show the same willingness. If I am wrong, let the evidence prove me wrong. If the evidence does not support punishment on this scale, then have the courage to correct it.”
‘Where is the evidence?’
Golson said in his statement that Baker High School turned in MGM because two Causey Middle School eight graders zoned for Baker had chosen to enroll at MGM and attended an annual freshman welcoming ceremony there. Baker had every right to report it.
AHSAA rules make clear that junior high and middle school students can participate in varsity sports only where they are zoned to attend, although the interpretation is somewhat looser in Mobile County, where MGM shares an overlapping attendance zone with Blount at Semmes and Scarborough middle schools.
The AHSAA says a mutual agreement to knowingly violate its rules can result in fines, restrictive probation and/or the suspension of coaches. But Golson drew a distinction between inadvertent contact with a player and a desire to deliberately recruit.
“Where is the evidence that my coaches or I initiated contact with these students to persuade them to choose MGM?” Golson said in his statement. “Where are the messages? Where are the phone calls? Where are the promises of playing time? Where are the payments, jobs, housing arrangements, transportation, gifts, benefits or other inducements? Where is the evidence that we orchestrated a recruiting effort or attempted to gain an unfair competitive advantage? If that evidence exists, show it.
“The event happened openly on our campus with our administration’s knowledge and approval. No formal invitations were issued. Information was publicly posted. The students came to us. Some had already completed MCPSS transfer paperwork. Their families had made their enrollment decisions before the event. … Purpose matters. Intent matters. Timing matters. Whether the family had already made its enrollment decision matters. Whether a coach actually influenced that decision matters. Whether there was an attempt to gain a competitive advantage matters.”
‘No transfer culture’
Golson disputed allegations that MGM’s recent success was built on transfers he induced to play there, saying only 5% of 800 student-athletes who participated in freshman, junior varsity and varsity football from January 2022 through May 2026 were transfers.
“Our program was not built through a transfer culture,” he said in his statement. “The numbers simply do not support that narrative. When our staff arrived, our biggest challenge was not bringing kids into Semmes. It was keeping the kids who were already here.”
In the end, AHSAA member schools make the rules and it’s Executive Director Heath Harmon’s job to see they are followed. Harmon has tried to live up to the promise he made to tighten the slack enforcement of AHSAA rules pertaining to recruiting and transfers and it’s an overwhelming task, rather like trying to stomp on a million scurrying ants with one foot.
But can a coach who built a successful program on the pillars of toughness, discipline, commitment, love, family and ministry — and those qualities are still spelled out on a greaseboard in the Vikings’ fieldhouse — become so foul that he should be treated as rubbish? You couldn’t spritz enough perfume on this to make it smell good.
The fact that Golson was not given due process and removed from campus before the AHSAA ruled on the case might work in his favor. It’s more likely he’ll be remembered as the coach who was treated unfairly.
(Call News Editor Jimmy Wigfield has been awarded the Best Local Sports Column by the Alabama Press Association for three straight years.)
