Three years ago, students were introduced to Cris Bell, Oak Mountain’s new head football coach. Last season, under Coach Bell’s leadership, Oak Mountain experienced its best football season ever, with ten wins, and two losses.

As a young man, Coach Bell played football from the age of eight, with the growing ambitions of one day becoming a football coach. Since then, he has served as a defensive coordinator for five years at his Alma Mater, Hampden-Sydney College, in Richmond, Virginia, fifteen years at a private Christian school in Georgia, three years at Marietta High School in Atlanta, and now, three years at Oak Mountain High School.

Due to his coaching successes last year, Coach Bell was recently voted the 7A Coach of the Year by the Alabama Football Coach’s Association. This award is given to a coach who has shown exemplary leadership and hard work, in the 7A league, the largest league in Alabama with schools such as: Spain Park, Hoover, Prattville, Fairhope, Mountain Brook, and Vestavia.

According to Coach Bell, “This award is extremely flattering, because it’s voted on by my coaching peers. As a whole, it’s truly a reflection of the entire coaching staff and team. This award is given, in name, to the head coach, but it’s really for everyone who worked hard last football season.”

In response to the question of whether or not the football season of 2014 was his best yet, Coach Bell responded, “If we focus on the standpoint of having a group of kids who consistently over-achieve, and who prove a whole lot, even with the deck stacked against them, then yes, it was a very good year.”

Coach Bell adds, “For the future of Oak Mountain football, our biggest challenge is to prevent from becoming complacent. We must not forget what it took to get where we are now. We have the potential to compete at a very high level for a very, long time, and I hope we do!”