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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney
Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kevin Maddox, left, Kermit Kendrick, Alan Paquette and Rex Blair attend a special called Hoover City Schools board of education meeting at the Farr Administration Building for Hoover City Schools on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Drew Gilmer, former head coach at Clay-Chalkville, speaks to the media after being named Hoover’s new head coach for the Bucs football program during a press conference at the Hoover Met Stadium on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney
Hoover High School offensive coordinator Chip English has been named the interim coach for the Bucs. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Hoover High School football coaches Drew Gilmer and Adam Helms have resigned, effective immediately.
The resignations were accepted by the Hoover City Schools board Thursday afternoon in a special called meeting.
“The safety and well-being of our students and staff continue to be our top priorities,” Hoover schools Superintendent Kevin Maddox said in a statement following the meeting. “We maintain high expectations for our employees and students. At this time, our focus is dedicated to supporting our football players and coaching staff.”
Gilmer and Helms were placed on administrative leave Tuesday afternoon. Two videos surfaced from recent Hoover practices, which showed a coach exhibiting concerning behavior toward a player in two separate instances.
Chip English was named the Bucs’ interim head coach. English is the team’s offensive coordinator and in his second year at Hoover. He will serve in that role for the remainder of the 2024 season.
"We appreciate his willingness to serve in this capacity and support our players and coaching staff during this transition," the statement read.
The main portion of Thursday's special meeting lasted less than two minutes, as the approval of agenda and a personnel action item was the extent of it.
The meeting began with Mark Boardman, an attorney advising the school board, saying, “Board members and superintendent, what you’re about to do involves a matter which could potentially involve litigation. For that reason, I request that you not give any public comment, that you not answer questions, that you not discuss this matter with anyone because of the potential for litigation.”
While many players and community members expressed support for the coaches in the previous two days, the family of one player hired State Rep. Juandalynn Givan to represent them.
In a Wednesday press conference, she said the actions of the coach, whom she identified as head coach Drew Gilmer, were “perverted, abusive, extreme, outrageous and beyond all possible bounds of human decency from someone who is deemed or defined as an educator in a public school system in the state of Alabama.”
Givan said “Coach Gilmer committed acts that justify termination and being enjoined from ever coaching on any level going forth.”
Gilmer was hired in January, coming over from Clay-Chalkville after winning two state championships in his seven years there. Helms was the defensive coordinator at Clay and followed Gilmer to Hoover.
Hoover’s season begins in just over two weeks, as the Bucs travel to Western High School in Davis, Florida, for the season opener on Saturday, Aug. 24.
