Wade Waldrop expected to be named Bucs football coach

Hoover High School appears set to announce its new head football coach.

Wade Waldrop is expected to be recommended to the Hoover Board of Education Thursday night as the next leader of the Buccaneers’ football program, sources have confirmed to the Hoover Sun.

Waldrop has been a head coach in Alabama since 2006 and most recently spent a year at Florence, where he led the Falcons to a 5-6 record and first-round playoff appearance in 2021.

Between stops at Chelsea, James Clemens and Florence, Waldrop has accumulated an overall record of 100-75. In seven years at Chelsea, Waldrop compiled a 41-34 record, taking the Hornets to the playoffs in four of those seasons. He then went 54-35 in eight seasons at James Clemens, with the Jets qualifying for the postseason six times. 

Waldrop would replace Josh Niblett, who took the head coaching position at Gainesville High in Georgia in December. Over 14 years, Niblett’s Bucs posted a 171-26 record, capturing six state championships in that time. Hoover won at least 10 games in 13 of those 14 years and advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs every single season.