From The Tribune staff reports
PINSON — Pinson Valley head coach Sam Shade has been named as a potential successor to Reginald Ruffin, who stepped down after a decade as the Golden Bears’ coach to become the head football coach at Tuskeegee University.
Pinson Valley head football coach Sam Shade speaks to the crowd during a state championship celebration on Jan. 16, 2021.
File photo
Website FootballScoop.com writer John Brice broke the news, citing an unnamed source. The news has since been picked up by 247sports.com.
Shade, who played collegiate ball at The University of Alabama, led Pinson Valley to a 6A state championship in his first season as head coach in 2020. The Indians went 9-4 in 2021 and made it to the third round of the playoffs before being eliminated by Mountain Brook.
Shade has a 21-6 record at Pinson Valley.
The Golden Bears are a HBCU school and play in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Miles College went 6-4 in Ruffin’s final regular season before losing to Albany State 31-0 in the SIAC championship game.
Besides being a standout defensive back at Alabama, Shade has also spent time as a coach at the collegiate level, with stops as an assistant at Samford and Georgia State, as well as spending the 2018 season on staff with the Cleveland Browns.
Attempts to reach Shade Thursday were unsuccessful.
