Former Gardendale head football coach Chad Eads has found a place with another football team – and, he said, it was none too soon.

Eads accepted the job as head coach at Hayden this week, replacing Nikita Stover, who left after about six months to return closer to his home in North Alabama as head coach at Hatton. Eads’ hiring was approved by the Blount County Board of Education on Wednesday.

“I told my wife I needed to have a football team,” the 57-year-old Eads said. “I was 12 years old the last time I didn’t have a football team. I spent my whole life on a football team and I needed a new one.”

Eads said his hiring process was a little unusual for him because his wife, Jamie, was not by his side.

“It was a weird week because my wife is in Paris right now,” he said. “She and my sister-in-law are on a graduation trip with my niece. There’s about a 7-hour time difference, so we had to figure out a few minutes to talk about it. … I texted her on the other side of the planet that I had taken the job.”

Eads resigned in November after seven years at Gardendale, where he compiled a 50-33 record with six trips to the postseason with the Rockets. Before that, he was part of the Hoover staff as offensive line coach for 11 years, helping the Bucs to six state championships.

After Stover’s resignation, Hayden principal Allen Hargett had a conversation with a friend, Gardendale assistant principal Darren James. “He evidently talked me up,” Eads said, “and (Hargett) and I talked. Over the next few days, we talked about what Principal Hargett wanted and what he wanted out of his football team. It matched up with what I think the game should be about.

“I’m excited about it. It will be a change for me and I’m ready for it. I don’t know many people up there and it’s exciting I’ll be meeting new people.”

Eads will be reuniting with former assistant Michael Blankenship, who coaches the secondary for the Wildcats. “He was at Gardendale when I first got there and I think he coach coached three years for me. The rest of the coaches are off this week and they are all on trips. I’ve talked to a few on the phone.

“I have met a few players at the high school, but most of them are also off on trips with their families. They had already set June 9 as their first team workout for the summer. I have talked to a few coaches about how many we had and what we need to get planned for the first day of workouts.

“I want to go in and learn the kids on my own,” Eads said. “Coach (Keith) Register was there a long time (12 years) and then they had a new coach for just a few months. They’ve been through a lot, especially for a kid. I want to learn them on my own without somebody else’s opinion. Sometimes that’s good for a kid, whether it’s coming up from middle school or what. The cool thing is I don’t know them and they don’t know me. We can figure each other out.”

Hayden plays in Class 5A, Region 5 with Briarwood Christian, Birmingham-Carver, Corner, John Carroll, Ramsay and Wenonah. Ramsay has two state championship game appearances in the past three years with a title in 2022 and Corner advanced to the quarterfinals last season. “If I’m good at anything,” said Eads, looking at the challenges ahead for a team that is coming off back-to-back 2-8 finishes, “it’s convincing kids they can win against people like that.

“I’m excited,” Eads said again, “I want to go somewhere and build in a way I think is important. Hayden is a place that values what the game does for a young person. Some places, unfortunately, have lost that.”