Calhoun promises “exciting brand” of Rebel football

New Vestavia Hills High School football coach Sean Calhoun knows it won’t be easy playing football in Class 7A, Region 3. In any given year, four or five teams in the region have a legitimate chance at winning a state championship.

Calhoun said that level of competition doesn’t intimidate him, and it won’t intimidate his new team.

“That’s something this team’s not going to shy away from,” Calhoun said on Friday in his first press conference as the Rebels head coach.

Calhoun, who comes from Carrollton, Georgia, was hired on Jan. 14 to replace longtime and legendary Vestavia head coach Buddy Anderson, who retired at the conclusion of this past season after more than 40 years with the team.

“It’s exciting and a little nerve wracking taking over a program that has been in such good hands,” Calhoun said. “Fundamentally and foundationally-speaking, my values and my ideals are the exact same.”

Calhoun met with the team on Friday for about 45 minutes and said there was an “excitement” in the air, something he hopes carries over into the season.

“We’re going to bring an exciting brand of football,” Calhoun said. “I’m 39; I’ve got a lot of youthfulness in me.”

The new coach told the media he believes Alabama high school football doesn’t get talked about enough, and that there is a “great nucleus” and a great senior class at Vestavia.

Calhoun told the team that the “honeymoon phase” will fade, and it will be about how the team executes the new schemes he is planning to bring in. 

“I like to roll the dice sometimes,” Calhoun said. “Any pressure we can put on our opponent, we’re going to do that.”

That may include trick plays and throwing the ball a little bit more than Vestavia has in the past, Calhoun said.

Like his predecessor, Calhoun’s Christian faith plays a vital role in his life, he said.

“It’s big for me and my family,” Calhoun said.

Anderson isn’t going anywhere just yet. He’s still at the high school, serving as dean of students. Having the all-time leader in wins in Alabama history doesn’t intimidate Calhoun, though.

“I need to use him as a resource,” Calhoun said.

Anderson also provides an inspiration for the kind of career Calhoun hopes to have, he said.

“Whenever my career is done, if I can be in the same sentence, the same chapter, the same book as Buddy Anderson, I’ve done a couple things right,” Calhoun said.