By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SAND ROCK – Alan Heath had no intention of taking the head football position at Sand Rock during the COVID year of 2020. It was his intention to be the assistant principal at Sand Rock and leave his coaching days behind.
But the more time Heath worked with the kids on an interim basis, he took the football role full time.
“I always just try to let God lead me where I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to do,” he said.
On Monday, Heath said he was led to make another coaching decision. He informed Sand Rock Principal Ben East of his intention to step down as the Wildcats’ head football coach.
“Yesterday morning, my prayer was ‘God, change my mind.’ I was like ‘God, change my mind’ and He didn’t. As much as it hurt, that let me know it’s what I’m supposed to do. I tried to look at it from an administrator’s standpoint as well as a football coach. It hurts me to do it. It’s not like it’s something I don’t want to be a part of or don’t care about. I care very much about it, but I feel like it’s the right thing to do now.”
In five years at Sand Rock, Heath was 21-31. His best season at Sand Rock came in 2021, when the Wildcats went 7-4 and lost at Mars Hill in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs.
Sand Rock was 5-6 last season and lost to Vincent in the first round of the state playoffs.
“It’s been one of the greatest honors of my life to be trusted to be the head coach at Sand Rock,” Heath said. “I could not work with better people, better kids, better assistant coaches, better administrators and all the people I work with here.
“It’s not like I’m mad and I didn’t get fired. Basically we have a P.E. job coming open this year. I’m assistant principal, and I’m getting close enough to where I can retire, not this year, but in the next few years. I started thinking and praying about it. If I wait and give up football when I retire, what are the odds we’ll have a P.E. job open then to hire a football coach? They’re not real good, so I kept that in the back of my head. When we found out the P.E. job was going to be open, I just kept praying about it.
“It’s been one of the greatest honors of my life to be trusted to be the head coach at Sand Rock. I could not work with better people, better kids, better assistant coaches, better administrators and all the people I work with here.”
Heath said he intends to remain at Sand Rock as an assistant principal, but Tuesday was still an emotional day for him. That was when he informed the players and assistant coaches of his decision.
“No one had any clue I was going to do this, and I cried every time (telling them),” Heath said. “The young men the kids are now, if I had any impact on them, then that’s what I’m most proud of.
“I also had several of my former football players reach out to me yesterday, and one of them said ‘God is going to have you where He needs you. It’s just like when He put you in my life.
’ That means the world to me.
“My record overall is not too much to be proud of, but I’m most proud of the kids and those young men and what they are. If me and this football program had any hand in that, then that makes every single thing worthwhile 100 percent.”
Even though he’s no longer going to be preparing them during workouts, practices and coaching them in games, Heath said he’s still going to support the Wildcats in all they do.
“I told the kids yesterday I’ll be standing in the end zone cheering for them,” he said. “I hope they win every ball game next year. I want these kids who I love and have been working with to be as successful as possible. My hope is hiring somebody new will get the excitement level up even more and get more kids wanting to come out and play and be more successful than I’ve been able to be.”
