Lamey photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools; Donaldson photo by Jon Anderson
Harley Lamey, left, is the new athletic director at Hoover High School, while Josh Donaldson is the new athletic director at Spain Park High School.
Hoover City Schools has a pair of new athletic directors for its high schools.
Harley Lamey was recently hired to helm the athletic department at Hoover High School, while Josh Donaldson has been hired to be Spain Park High’s new athletic director.
Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools.
Harley Lamey was approved as the new athletic director at Hoover High School.
The duo replace Andy Urban and Patrick Kellogg, who have provided stability to Hoover and Spain Park for the past several years. Urban took the athletic director position at Mountain Brook Schools, while Kellogg retired from Spain Park.
Donaldson has worked 11 years in Homewood City Schools, spending the last six as Homewood’s head cross-country coach and the last four years as head track and field coach as well.
He was the 2020-21 Homewood City Schools Secondary Teacher of the Year and grew Homewood’s Advanced Placement biology program from four students to 80 students, while maintaining a 71% pass rate for the AP biology exam, Spain Park Principal Amanda Esslinger said.
Esslinger said she considered that a remarkable achievement because the state’s pass rate for the AP biology exam is 54%.
Donaldson graduated from Homewood High School in 2008, obtained his bachelor’s degree in math and biology from the University of Alabama and earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
As an athlete and coach, he has been a part of 33 state championship teams and 17 state runner-up teams, Esslinger said. As a head coach, he had led Homewood’s cross-country and track and field teams to six state titles, including this past outdoor track season that ended in May, she said.
Photo by Jon Anderson.
Left: Josh Donaldson was approved as the new athletic director for Spain Park High School in Hoover on June 13.
Donaldson said he’s excited to take on this new role.
“I’m excited for this opportunity and for this privilege to join Hoover City Schools and Spain Park, in order to help them continue their excellence on that foundation that is already there and work with the coaches, along with the administration and the school, in order to continue that excellence that we all know Spain Park and Hoover City Schools strives for,” he said.
Lamey has been at Hoover the last two years as the head wrestling coach, getting the opportunity to coach his son, Jack, on the mat.
Before arriving at Hoover, Lamey coached at Vestavia Hills for four years and at Piedmont the 15 years before that.
Going through the hiring process, Lamey said God continued opening doors and giving him comfort that he was on the correct path. Now, he takes over what he calls the “flagship school in the state.”
“The weight of that is not something I take lightly,” he said. “I understand the magnitude and gravity of it.”
Lamey is pleased with the fact that he moves into a role at a program that has operated at a high level for many years. The phrase “best is the standard” gets repeated often with people involved in athletics.
But Lamey will certainly bring some ideas to the table and attempt to continue moving the athletic department in a positive direction.
“To say there was anything wrong, there’s not, but there are ways to expand what we do and enlarge our influence,” he said.
Lamey offered gratitude to the coaches and administrators who have helped him over the years, all leading to this newest opportunity.
“I’m so thankful to the administration that believed in me, the board and Dr. [Dee] Fowler, to allow me to serve in this position,” he said.
Urban takes over as Mountain Brook AD
Andy Urban’s focus for much of the last decade has been on creating an environment for success within the walls of Hoover High School and its athletic department.
So, when he learned of Mountain Brook Schools athletics director Benny Eaves’ impending retirement, he did not give the situation much thought beyond the fact of his friend and colleague stepping away from the profession.
“I love Hoover and love my job,” Urban said. “I wasn’t looking and wasn’t in the mood to listen. But the wheels started spinning and God started opening doors. And here we are.”
Those open doors led to Urban being named the new Mountain Brook Schools AD, effective June 1. He concluded a nine-year tenure as Hoover’s AD in May.
“The biggest thing at Hoover that has changed is the standard for every sport involved,” he said. “When I took over, there was an expectation for the big three [football, basketball, baseball], but now, every sport is running at the highest level. The expectations from everyone are to compete at the highest level for every sport.”
Urban does not believe he can simply take every bit of his blueprint from Hoover and install it at Mountain Brook, because the culture and style at both places are unique.
“Hoover has a unique way, Spain Park has one, Mountain Brook has theirs. [Mountain Brook’s] is a success-based model and I don’t know all the ins and outs of it yet, but that’s the biggest thing I see from any school,” he said.
He was at a career crossroads when Hoover athletic director Myra Miles and Principal Don Hulin paved his road into athletic administration.
“They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself,” Urban said. “This school allowed me to grow into what I am today and I’m proud of what we’ve done as a school. … I’m very thankful for it and very proud of it.”
Kellogg thankful for 11 years
Serving in education is something Patrick Kellogg always wanted to do.
He has been able to do that, concluding an 11-year run as the athletics director at Spain Park High School in the spring.
“I wanted to do my time as a servant leader for our student-athletes, teachers and our parents,” he said.
Kellogg gave a great measure of thanks to everyone who works at Spain Park, particularly Carmen Starr and Rachel Laatsch in the athletic department.
Kellogg said he will miss the student-athletes and watching them succeed the most.
“There’s nothing like the elation of victory. There are tough losses, but we grow from both. It’s been real special,” he said.
Kellogg is now an area sales manager at BSN Sports. He believes Spain Park’s athletic department will continue to thrive with Josh Donaldson now at the helm.
“He’s going to be great and will do great things with the department,” Kellogg said. “I wish Spain Park all the best in the direction that they’re going. It’s really been a privilege.”
