Jason Rowell, who was formerly the head coach at Chickasaw High School and has spent the last three seasons as head coach and athletic director at Luverne High School, is the new head coach at Citronelle High School.

It will be sort of a homecoming for Rowell, who played football for Citronelle under the legendary Ronny Massey. He also spent eight years as an assistant at Jackson and Leroy before taking the head coach position at Chickasaw.

“It’s a great chance to come back home,” Rowell said. “At Luverne, it was a great experience because it was a community that took great pride in its football program. At Citronelle, we want to have pride in all the athletic programs. The players won’t have to look outside of their community to have a great football experience.

“We want to honor God, work hard, do the best we can and let the chips fall where they may. I believe in being a builder of things. I want to leave them better than I found them.”

Rowell, 40, succeeds Jason Barnett, who resigned from Citronelle last October after a 1-9 season in 2022 and a 20-31record in five total years there. He is now the head coach at New Brockton High.

While at Luverne, Rowell amassed a 22-11 record in three seasons (7-4 in 2020, 9-2 in 2021 and 6-5 in 2022) and led the Tigers to three straight Class 2A playoff appearances. He said there were mixed emotions when he announced he was leaving the program.

“It’s been an emotional day, meeting with the kids and the coaches,” he said. “From the outside looking in, there were kids who knew some things, but there were others who were caught by surprise. But there’ll be some kids who’ll keep in touch with me — you don’t know how well you did a job until 10 years from now when you see husbands and fathers.”

Rowell went 11-10 at Chickasaw as he twice led the Chieftains to Class 2A playoff appearances. In his six years of head coaching, he has a 33-21 record.

“Chickasaw was one of he toughest jobs I had, but it was the most rewarding,” Rowell said. “Seeing these kids what they have done, it makes my heart smile. It was a blessing to have some success there since we left.

“At Citronelle I know it’s going to be a tough job, but I’m going to get my hands dirty. We’re going to get things turned around. You can take that to the bank. Everything I’ve done involved relationships. Relationships have to trickle down to the youth leagues, the business community. You have to build relationships across the board.”

The Wildcats have had three straight losing seasons and haven’t won a playoff game since 2008. They will once again compete in Class 5A, Region 1 next fall along with UMS-Wright, Gulf Shores, Faith Academy, Williamson, Vigor, B.C. Rain, Elberta and LeFlore.