Daleville hires Dean to be football coach

By David Mundee

Published: May 21, 2008

Coaching has been in Michael Dean’s blood all his life.

Daleville hopes some of that blood can pump new life into a program that hasn’t had a winning season in six years.

The 36-year-old Dean, defensive coordinator at McGill-Toolen in Mobile the last three years, was hired by the Daleville City School Board Wednesday afternoon as the new Warhawk football coach. He replaces Sam Holland, who resigned May 1.

Dean, the son of Mobile area coaching legend Joe Dean, has nine years of coaching experience at four schools, but the Daleville job will be his first as a varsity head coach. He will also be a social science teacher.

“I grew up around coaching as my father coached 30 years, mostly at Fairhope, but also at McGill,” Dean said. “It (coaching) is in my blood.
“It was a goal to be a head coach. It wasn’t because of ego, but because it’s who I am.

“It has taken some time and I had to be patient, but I feel Daleville is the right situation. It is a great community, a great school system, it has great tradition, good kids and is a good place to raise a family.”

While he achieved one goal in becoming a head coach, it’s far from his top goal, said Dean.

“Getting my first head coaching job was a goal, but I want to be the best at what I do. I want to help kids and to build a championship program and that is what I see at Daleville — a place to build a championship program.

“So it was my goal to be a head coach, but my work is just beginning.”

Dean takes over a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2002, though the Warhawks have made the playoffs in three of the last five years, including two straight.

“We are excited to have Michael Dean as our new head football coach,” Daleville Superintendent Andy Kelley said. “We are impressed with his enthusiasm and his intensity.

“We are equally impressed with his family and we look forward to having them as part of the Daleville Warhawk family.”

Dean and wife, Chris, have two children, Michael, 9, and Lauren, 5.

In his nine years as a coach, Dean has coached every area of the field. He was offensive coordinator at Fairhope in 1999 and 2000 and defensive coordinator at McGill-Toolen the last three years. He served as special teams coordinator at Shades Valley in 2001.

This past year, McGill’s defense, under Dean’s direction, ranked third in Class 6A in fewest points allowed (9.1 a game). The Yellow Jackets went 13-1 and reached the state semifinals before losing to eventual state champion Prattville.

Six players off Dean-directed defenses the last two years has signed or committed to play football at Division-I colleges, including five at SEC schools.

“My niche is on the defensive side,” Dean said. “I am an aggressive person and I believe defense wins championships. I am big into fundamentals and in attacking and attacking.”

Dean attended Auburn University from 1990-94, serving as a manager then as a G.A. assistant before being hired at Fairhope in 1995-96. He was an assistant coach in charge of linebackers and was also head junior varsity girls basketball coach.

He served at Fairhope as running backs coach in 1998-99 before becoming offensive coordinator for the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Dean moved to Shades Valley in 2001 where he directed the offensive and defensive lines and was special teams coordinator. He stayed one year before returning to Mobile and becoming assistant coach at Theodore, directing defensive backs. He was also the head boys and girls tennis coach.
He moved to McGill-Toolen in 2005. He was also head junior varsity football coach and head freshman basketball coach.

Dean becomes the seventh head coach in 12 years at Daleville following legendary Perry Swindall.
In succession, Marc Edge (1998-99), Ben Harris (2000-01), John Moten (2002-03), Harry Wayne Parrish (2004-05), Donnie Smith (spring 2006) and Holland (2007-08) have been hired prior to Dean.