MOODY — “I hope this is a day we will remember for many, many years to come,” Jay Brown said.

And with that, Brown became the new head football coach at Moody High School Monday.

Brown is the former head football coach at Pell City, a position he held for nine seasons. The St. Clair County Board of Education approved the decision at a called board meeting at the Moody High School Library.

Superintendent Jenny Seals made the recommendation to the six board members who were present and the vote was unanimous to hire Brown. The lone board member not present was Randy Thompson.

“I just want to thank everybody involved,” Brown said moments after being hired. “I want to thank Superintendent Seals, the BOE and Principal Dale Stripling. We are very excited about this opportunity. Through this entire process, the one thing that impressed me was the people we’ve met. We’re excited about being part of this community. I can’t wait to get started.”

Seals said Brown is very excited about this opportunity.

“We are fortunate to have people who want to be at our schools,” Seals said. “He is going to bring a lot of excitement to this program. We’re looking forward to him and his family coming to Moody. He has a very nice family. I think it is a great fit. His first day on the job will be Feb. 21.”

When the search for a new football coach at Moody started, Stripling formed an advisory committee to participate in the interview process and make recommendations. The committee consisted of Joe Lee, Bill Weathington, Bill Morris and Joe Kelly.

Stripling said there were 146 applicants, one as far away as California.

“We’re excited about having a great coach and a good man to lead our young men,” Stripling said. “Our coaching staff is excited and our community has already been rejuvenated. I believe this is a start of a long relationship with Coach Brown helping mold the players and all the students at Moody High School.”

Weathington said through the large number of applicants, Brown quickly rose to the top and remained there.

“The committee believes Stripling made a good decision,” Weathington said. “Coach Brown is a good quality person and we were looking for that. A number of things about him and his family impressed us. I think he will be a very good fit. Ultimately, the committee gave a recommendation but it was Stripling who made the hire and took his decision to the superintendent and BOE.”

Board member Terry Green thanked Weathington and the committee for their role and involvement in the community.

“You always step up and do a great job,” Green said.

In the nine years Brown was at Pell City, the Panthers were 57-41. The most successful season was the 2003 Panthers who went 12-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs.

“I am honored to be here,” Brown said. “I believe things are already in place to start building a program. With us all working together, we can build this into a consistent program. Winning is very important, but even more so to me and most important to me is representing the school with class. We are definitely going to play with class and that starts by doing things the right way.”

Brown has been coaching all total for 27 years. He graduated from Oxford High School and played high school football for Bill Burgess.

He played college ball in Mississippi at East Central Mississippi. He later coached for Burgess at Jacksonville State University for 11 years and coached in three national championship games, winning one of them.

Stripling said Brown’s salary we be set according to the BOE’s salary scale.

“I believe it will be in the $65,000 to $75,000 range,” Stripling said. “A lot of that will depend on several things. First of all, this year he will be the head football coach. Next year, he will become athletic director and earn 60 percent of $2,500 and he will get a $1,400 supplement for weightlifting. Other stipends may come later on.”

Contact Gary Hanner at ghanner@thestclairtimes.com.