Barry Simmons' career started at Ashville High School and has come full circle to lead him back to his roots. He was named head football coach earlier this month and is excited for the challenge of bringing Ashville football back to its former glory.

"It feels fantastic to be back at this school," Simmons said. "This is a great community with a great group of kids, so I've enjoyed every minute of being here and look forward to what we're going to do in the future."

This will be Simmons' second head coaching job, his previous coming at Central-Coosa High School in Rockford. In his first season there, he led Coosa to their first playoff birth since the 2000 football season. He went 5-5 in his second, and final season there, finishing with an overall record of 10-11. This record makes him the third winningest head coach in Central-Coosa history.

Simmons is the third head football coach at Ashville in the last three seasons, but he sees this as an opportunity to bring stability back to a program that has not seen it in a long time.

"Stability will be brought back through the hiring of people who want to be here, people who bleed the green and white," Simmons said. "This is where I want to be at and where I want to finish my career. I love the people and the community here."

Despite not having a winning record in over a decade, Simmons sees Ashville as a team that "can be competing in the playoffs this year." His goal is that by his fifth year at the helm,

the team can be "competing for a state championship."

Ashville opens their season August 24th at Ragland High School.