Montevallo High School is looking for its fourth new head football coach in 10 years as Blake Boren announced his resignation on Friday.

Boren – who played for his father, Charles, at Montevallo – was 26-17 in four seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach. It was his first job as a head coach, after he served as an assistant at Hoover, Mountain Brook, Pike Road and in college coaching at Faulkner University.

“I think it’s important when you know you are leaving to give the administration every opportunity to select the next head coach so if that individual wants to do spring training it will give them the opportunity to do that,” Boren said. “The worst thing I could do is show up in June or July and say, ‘Well, I’m leaving.’

“A good portion of our kids are coming back,” the coach said. “We will return a good nucleus and have a chance to have continued success.”

Boren’s Bulldogs were 7-3 last season, rebounding from a 4-6 mark in 2022. His first two teams went 7-5 and 8-3, making the AHSAA state playoffs both seasons.

“It’s been a great experience for me,” Boren said. “They are really great kids here. I met with them for the first time four or five days before COVID shut us down. I told them that we were going to create a lot of special memories and bonds and here in the finality of that, I think that was accurate.

“We have a tremendous administration here with principal Steve Bromley and the Shelby County School system is remarkable to work for.”

Boren’s defensive coordinator, Garrett Langer, will serve as interim head coach. Boren plans to complete the school year at Montevallo.

“I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished here,” Boren said in a news release. “Historically, Montevallo has won a little over 46 percent of its games over 94 years of football. In our four seasons, we’ve been able to average 6.5 wins, winning 7-plus three of the four seasons we were here. There are only nine teams in the history of this school to win a playoff game, one of which was the 2020 team with our victory over St. James.

“Additionally, there are 10 coaches in the history of this program who have stayed at Montevallo for at least four years. Of that group, our 26 wins leave us tied for the second-most victories of that group all-time.”

Boren replaced Brandon Wilcox at Montevallo, who compiled a 28-16 record in four seasons. Wilcox replaced Andrew Zow, who went 13-29 in four years at the school, according to Alabama High School Football Historical Society research.

Boren was also the athletics director at Montevallo. He said in the release, “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been able to undertake over a quarter million-dollar investment into all facilities owned by the Shelby County School Board of Education. We’ve completely overhauled the concession stand and locker rooms at Theron Fisher Stadium, installed new visitor bleachers, scoreboards and updated the irrigation systems at all outdoor fields.

“We were able to successfully work with city and county leaders to install a new floor at Susie DeMent Gymnasium and, perhaps more importantly, we put the finishing touches on a total transformation of the school weight room.”

Boren’s father was 28-22 in five years at Montevallo from 1998-2002 and compiled a 109-75 record as a head coach with stops at Midfield, Bibb County, St. Clair County and Newton County, Miss.