Three legends of Alabama high school coaching will be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards in January.

The Alabama Football Coaches Association announced this week that Curtis Coleman, Terry Curtis and Danny Powell would be honored at the group’s annual Coach of the Year banquet on Jan. 31 in Montgomery.

All three of this year’s recipients have deep roots in Coastal Alabama.

Coleman played linebacker at Escambia County High in Atmore before playing college football at Livingston. He spent 23 years as a head coach – six at Ensley, 12 at Huffman and five at Shades Valley, winning 129 games in the process. Coleman joined the staff of former player Jerry Hood at Clay-Chalkville and is now working with Hood at Leeds. He also served a tenure on the AHSAA’s Central Board of Control.

Curtis, the current president of the Central Board, announced his retirement as head football coach at UMS-Wright in February. After playing baseball at Auburn University, Curtis spent 26 years in the public school system, including head coaching jobs at Shaw High School and his alma mater Murphy High School. He then spent 26 at UMS-Wright where he led the Bulldogs to eight state titles. He finished his coaching career with 361 total wins, currently second all-time in AHSAA coaching wins.

Powell graduated from Leroy and first made his coaching name with the Bears. He led the team to four Class 2A state titles in five years from 2006-2010. He then won a 4A state title at Jackson in 2011. He spent 21 years overall as a head coach, winning 186 games. He was 43-12 in the playoffs. His other head coaching stops included McIntosh Christian, Lee-Scott, Clarke Prep and Jackson Academy. He retired following the 2023 season.

“I remember Danny Powell, one of the best high school coaches in Alabama,” former Leroy and Auburn star Sammie Coates said earlier this week. “He’s in the Hall of Fame. What he implanted was hard work. He didn’t care who you were. If you didn’t do it the way he wanted it, you weren’t going to play for him. That’s one thing I take away from high school. You’ve got to earn everything. I learned that from Danny Powell. If you didn’t want to be there, you could go on. Also, just the team we had in high school, how close we were. That’s why we won so much. We did everything together. There are no secrets to winning. It’s a family. You have to be on the same page. Coach Powell made sure we were on the same page, not only in football, but baseball as well.”