Scott Goolsby is always telling people he doesn’t think he’d be able to coach high school football without his faith in Jesus.
“Coaching is such a stressful job,” said the defensive coordinator for the Auburn High School football team. “You want to win every game you play, and obviously you can’t. Over the years, I’ve had highs and lows, ups and downs. There have been issues with kids and their families — kids have more issues now than they ever have in my career. I don’t think I could deal with that if I wasn’t a Christian.”
Goolsby said he became a coach because of the impact his own high school coach had on him.
Lifelong love
“I’ve loved sports my entire life,” he said. “My high school head football coach, Hugh Fountain, impacted me in so many ways. It made me want to have the impact on kids that he had on me.”
Before coaching at Auburn High, Goolsby coached at Charles Henderson High School in Troy for eight years, then became defensive coordinator at Geneva High School, where he coached for five years.
He came to Auburn High in 2013 and was named defensive coordinator in 2020. He was honored in late 2021 with the Broyles Award, given each year to a top assistant coach in the state.
Goolsby said “the people — the kids and the coaches” are his favorite part of coaching. He has relationships with players that have lasted through the years, much like his friendship with Fountain.
He also is actively involved in ministry at First Baptist Church Opelika, and said he has a “football family” — his wife, Amber, and two daughters are invested in his work and ministry.
“They love it, and they don’t want me to do anything else,” Goolsby said.
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