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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Vestavia Hills’ Jackson Harris (6) hands his dad, head coach Jamie Harris, his shin gaurd as they fist-bump during a timeout after Harris hit a double in game one of a Class 7A playoff series against Spain Park at Sammy Dunn Field on May 5.
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Photo by Laura Chramer.
Vestavia Hills head coach Robert Evans talks to his team after a football game versus Spain Park at Jaguar Stadium on Sept. 16, 2022, in Birmingham. The Rebels beat the Jaguars, 36-7.
Playing for your dad can be a difficult thing.
Coaching your child is a delicate balance.
Neither is easy, but most agree they would not have it any other way.
With Father’s Day approaching, the Vestavia Voice caught up with a few current coaches to talk about the joys and challenges of playing for and being coached by dad.
Trial and error
John Simmons has two daughters, Madison and Miah, and has coached them both in various sports over the years. Madison is the oldest, and Simmons admits it was a challenge to learn the best methods to use when coaching her.
“It was trial and error,” Simmons said. “How I handled Madison and Miah was totally different. I made a lot of mistakes with Madison and was way too hard on her. I never wanted there to be any doubt in anybody’s mind that they got anything because it was handed to them.”
Simmons said he handled things with Miah much better, getting to coach her in basketball, volleyball and softball throughout her playing days. Simmons coached his daughters at Hayden until the family moved to Vestavia Hills two years ago. Miah recently graduated from Vestavia Hills High and will play college softball at the University of Mobile.
“Being able to spend time with your child is great and being able to watch her development,” Simmons said.
Simmons fondly remembers many moments over the years, but one that sticks out to him is seeing Miah help lead their Hayden team to the state championship when she was in eighth grade. Miah got pulled up to the varsity team in the latter half of the season and struggled at times early on. But once it clicked, she dominated throughout the postseason and helped the Wildcats win it all.
“Being able to watch that little spark, that was really special for me,” Simmons said.
Simmons is grateful to have great relationships with both daughters after coaching them throughout the years, but he’s also ready to sit on the sidelines and enjoy Miah’s next chapter. Give him a Mountain Dew and some snacks, and he’s all set.
“I love taking my cooler and my chair and sitting back and watching,” he said.
‘It means more’
Robert Evans hates going up against teams in which the star player is a coach’s son.
“I hate playing coach’s kids, because it means more to them,” said Evans, the current head football coach at Vestavia Hills High School and a former star player for the Rebels.
How does he know that? Because he was one back in his playing days. Evans’s father, Bruce, was a longtime coach at Vestavia and his position coach in the late 1990s.
“You’re playing for your family’s livelihood. Coaches’ kids are going to have a different perspective, because they live with it 365 days out of the year,” Evans said.
There were plenty of highs and lows in his career, being coached by his dad. He fondly remembers his days as a kid, hanging around high school practices and having his dad throw batting practice sessions in the afternoons. The culmination of his senior year, when the Rebels won the state football title in 1998, was a special moment for the family as well.
There were some rough moments, as well. Evans recalls being pulled out of a playoff game his junior year for what he described as a “dumb football play.” While he was on the bench, the opponent scored and went on to win the game in overtime.
On a lighter note, Evans is glad he no longer has to ride to school in his dad’s 1982 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.
These days, Evans is coaching his own team, while his parents can only watch from the bleachers.
“It’s probably nerve-wracking for them, watching us,” Evans said. “With coaches, parents probably still live and die with it. They’re still your kids when you’re coaching and that’s unique. They don’t ever get out of that phase of worrying about their child’s wellbeing.”
Delicate balance
Jamie Harris was the head coach at Vestavia Hills High School before his son Jackson became a member of the varsity team. But this year has been a special one, as the Rebels advanced to the Class 7A state championship series for the first time since 2000. Jackson and the rest of the senior class have been key cogs in that run.
“It’s been a really, really special year,” Harris said.
Not only has Harris had the opportunity to coach Jackson over his varsity career, but he’s been an assistant coach for various teams throughout the years before high school.
Harris called it a delicate balance when it comes to coaching his son.
“It can be hard on both sides, it depends on the day and the situation. I have to watch and make sure I’m not harder on him than I am everybody else, but I also expect so much out of him,” he said.
There have been great moments over the last couple years, with Jackson notching a walk-off hit in the first game of his junior season, nearly hitting for the cycle against Hoover, hitting a walk-off home run to defeat Cullman and hitting a key homer against Sparkman, just to name a few.
It hasn’t always been easy, but Harris would not have it any other way. He will have a few more years of the experience, as his younger son, Jacob, will soon be making his way up the ranks.
“I wouldn’t trade the ability to be able to coach him for the world,” he said. “It’s been hard at times. … It’s going to be really weird not having him there next year.”
Didn’t know any different
Casey Dunn’s dad was a high school baseball legend. Sammy Dunn authored one of the most successful runs in history, leading Vestavia Hills High School to nine state championships over a 10-year stretch from 1991-2000. Casey was a player during the middle of that run, but playing for his dad was simply the norm.
“I didn’t know anything different,” Casey said. “I appreciated it so much more when I left playing for him, because I realized how good he was at what he did.”
Casey has been a baseball coach since his playing days concluded. He was head coach at Spain Park High before a successful 17-year run at Samford University. He is currently in his second season leading the UAB program.
“So many of my best supporters support me because of what my dad did for them,” he said. “That’s such a testament. There’s such an appreciation for the impact that he had.”
The moments that stick out most in Dunn’s mind from his years playing for his dad were in his freshman and senior campaigns. As a freshman, Dunn was thrown into a big moment in the state championship game as a pinch hitter and came through to drive in a key run. As a senior, winning the state title and the embrace that followed is a memory he clings to tightly as well.
“That was our last time together [as player and coach]. That would be the best memory,” he said.
