From Reports

GADSDEN – Longtime coach Eddy Norris has been named the new head basketball coach for the Gadsden State Community College Lady Cardinals.

With 34 years of experience coaching at the collegiate and high school levels, Norris brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the team.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “It’s been 34 successful years of coaching, and I’m very proud of that.” Norris said he has a long-standing commitment to developing student-athletes both on and off the court.

“I want to help develop skills for people so they can do great things for themselves,” he said. “As coaches, we want to inspire others to do great things. We want them to be the best that they can be.”

Norris’ playing and coaching career spans multiple sports and levels of competition with plenty of athletic accomplishments. A 1982 graduate of Sand Rock High School, he was a standout in football, basketball, baseball and track. His basketball honors include All State First Team, Region 6 and Area 12 Most Valuable Player, Cherokee County MVP, and three-time selection to the All Area and All County teams. He was also a participant in the 1982 Alabama North/South All-Star game.

On the basketball court, Norris ranks in the Top 10 in four rebounding categories in Alabama state high school history, including most rebounds in a season (21 rebounds per game, second overall), most rebounds in a single game (31 points, third overall), most rebounds in a season (567, seventh overall), and most rebounds in a career (1,318, ninth overall).

As a football player, Norris was named Region 6 MVP and Area 12 Offensive MVP and was a two-time member of the All Area and All County teams.

After high school, Norris played basketball at Snead State Community College, where he served as team captain, before finishing his playing career at the University of Montevallo. There, he was named Team MVP and earned the Neal Shirley Award for the Most Outstanding Student-Athlete in 1986.

After graduation, Norris coached for three years at the University of Montevallo before enrolling at the University of Mississippi to pursue a doctorate in education.

In 1990, Norris returned to Sand Rock High School and had a successful coaching career that spanned two decades. In 2010, he took the assistant coaching position at Albertville High School.

In 2015, he moved to Tuscaloosa when his son, Riley, committed to play basketball at the University of Alabama. Riley, a standout for the Crimson Tide, played 136 games–the most ever by a UA basketball player.

Norris served as a part-time basketball coach at American Christian Academy for three years. His daughter, Jordan, was also a successful student-athlete having played for the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks. Norris counts his own children among the many athletes he has coached throughout his career.

“I have been very proud of my children’s achievements and the successes of many of those I have coached,” he said. “I’ve helped a lot of men and women to get college scholarships and beyond.”

In 2023, Norris returned to northeast Alabama to coach basketball at Coosa Christian Academy, where he led junior high, junior varsity and varsity boys basketball teams.

In addition to coaching basketball, Norris has coached youth soccer, winning five state championships. In all, he has earned 1,127 career wins across various sports as a coach.

His appointment as the new head coach of the Lady Cardinals follows the resignation of former head coach Marty Dixon in December due to personal reasons.

Dixon, who had previously coached the Lady Cardinals from 2015 to 2019 and again in 2023, asked Norris to join the team as an assistant coach to help turn the program around. After Dixon’s departure, Norris took on the head coach role while still juggling assistant coaching responsibilities. He said he is committed to guiding the Lady Cardinals toward success.

“It’s not about me,” Norris said. “It’s about the team. We want to turn this program into a competitive program. That’s our mission. We are united as a team. It’s more ‘we’ than ‘me.’ I’m very team focused. I want our young ladies to play well for each other. We expect them to do their best. It’s required each day, and we hold them accountable. As a result, they will be happy with what they have accomplished.”

The Lady Cardinals are currently 9-10 in the season, following a narrow loss to Coastal Alabama Community College (62-57) on Feb. 3. Despite the loss, Norris is optimistic about the future of the team.

“They played really hard,” he said. “We fought until the end. We were down by 12 at the half, but we cut the lead to five and made a good run in the fourth quarter. We took a two-point lead, but they took it back. There were a lot of good things we took from the game. It looks promising moving forward.”

As part of his long-term plan for the program, Norris is focusing on recruiting, which he believes is the lifeblood of any successful team.

Recently, six student-athletes have visited Gadsden State with three more scheduled this week.

“Recruiting is the first step,” Norris said. “The next step is getting them to compete successfully for Gadsden State.”

To support the team’s development, Jackson Millander, the cross country coach at Gadsden State, has volunteered as an assistant coach.

“Jackson has been a huge asset,” Norris said. “He and Ashton Moody, our team manager, have both really stepped up to help.”

As the Lady Cardinals continue their journey under Norris’ leadership, he is committed to building a strong, unified team.

“We need continuity,” he said. “Once a good system is in place with a good team playing for one another, we’ll accomplish a lot. We are in the building phase to get there. I know we can do it.”