By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
CENTER POINT – In mid-December, the Center Point Eagles found themselves without a head football coach as George Bates resigned after seven years at the helm. On Thursday, the Eagles announced the hiring of their next head coach, Dre’Mail King.
King is no stranger to high school coaching starting at his alma mater, Central High School, as an assistant. In 2013, he took over at Sumter Central, where he went 2-8 in the third season in program history.
King moved to Georgia to be an assistant coach and offensive coordinator at Meadowcreek High School in Gwinnett County. He left there to go to Carver High School in Columbus, GA where he spent one year as an assistant and another as the head coach. He also coached in the East/West All-Star game in Georgia and was named Gwinnett County assistant coach of the year in 2014.
In 2018, he returned to Alabama and became co-defensive coordinator at American Christian Academy under Chris Smelley. Two years later, King took over the Greensboro head coaching job where he went 6-5 in his lone year at the helm.
King’s last stop was at West Blocton, where he served as head coach in 2022 and 2023 and compiled a 12-10 record in his two years there, going to the playoffs in both of those years before departing after the 2023 season.
King did not coach anywhere in 2024.
Dr. Terrell Brown, Principal at Center Point, spoke of the hiring. “We went through a thorough process in finding a coach because Coach Bates has done so well at developing our program and we did not take it lightly. We wanted someone who was going to come in and hit the ground running and that was Coach King. He has changed trajectory of every program he’s been at. He has been able to develop players and young men and given them the opportunity to play at the next level. He has been at places that did not have success before him and he was able to turn them around. The other thing that stood out was how prepared he was. He came in prepared like he was the coach. He was telling us what he was planning on doing in the next 10, 30, and 90 days. That really impressed me. We are in a hotbed of where great football is being played so we had someone who was ready to get our program to exceed what we have been doing.”
King takes over a Center Point program that, under Bates, is riding a seven-year streak of making it to the playoffs. The 5-6 2024 record is the worst they experienced under Bates.
“Taking over this program after coach (Bates) is a great accomplishment and something we want to continue to build on what he did,” said King. “I see the foundation has been laid here by him and the facilities are clean, the players carry themselves well so I know the foundation is there and there was a good coach there. We want to build on that and elevate it and I am happy about being a part of that.”
King continued, “I have met with the players and looked at some film. We are going to be very young and I embrace that. There were a lot of seniors who are gone. I like that because I can set the foundation. It allows a fresh slate with these young men and establish our culture and how my staff and I do things differently. I was able to express how excited I am about this.”
Coach King also spoke of improving community involvement in the football program. “I hope that this changes. It will be a major goal of mine. It may be affected by the name change and I am going to go out and attack that and let everyone know that Erwin High School is Center Point High School. The name may be different but we are one and we want to be able to live on both legacies. We will wear the name that we have, but we are going to give back and ask for support from Erwin and their community. I install a care program that heavily involves the community and alumni and we will do things throughout the year to engage with them. We have a game plan for this.”
King’s message to the community, players, parents and Center Point family is simple, “We are going to raise the expectations of coaches and players and of our school. We want to do that because we want to become first. We are going to hit the field running!”
