Huntsville High School has hired Jimmy Gay as its new head football coach.

Gay won a state championship at Class 1A Parrish in 2003 and brings a 12-5 state playoff record to the job after two years at Parrish and six years at his alma mater, Cordova.

He comes to Huntsville from his job for the past five seasons as offensive line coach for Scott Basden at Muscle Shoals.

“I think it’s a diamond in the rough,” Gay said of the job at Huntsville. “These people have really bought in and want to win. It’s a great place to be. I think it’s a place where you can win.”

Huntsville principal Kari Flippo called Gay a “standout” in the hiring process.

“He’s an absolutely great guy and a great coach,” she said. “I am ecstatic with the hire. It was a very popular job. I went through over 80 resumes and narrowed it down to 10. Our committee interviewed 10 and he was a standout from the get-go.”

Gay played football at the University of North Alabama and graduated in 1995. His first job was as an assistant for Tim O’Neil at Dora – his head coach at Cordova, where he finished in 1990 – and then served as an assistant at Cordova under Randy Smith and Brian Maner. He worked for six years at Parrish, the first four as an assistant to Basden, who was a teammate at UNA.

Muscle Shoals has compiled a 49-11 regular-season record and 7-5 playoff mark during Gay’s tenure as an assistant.

Gay was hired Tuesday night and has not yet met with his new team.

“That’s coming up very soon,” he said. “That’s the main thing, I want to get in and build a relationship with the kids, establish what the program goals are and establish a winning culture. I’m excited about getting started.”

Huntsville finished 5-5 in 2023, Mark Fleetwood’s final season before his retirement as head coach in December. Fleetwood was 30-42 in seven seasons.

“I think there are only certain places where I would fit in,” Gay said. “I haven’t applied for any job because I didn’t feel I’d be the right fit. This one came open and I thought it was a great opportunity. As far as football, they are a slightly above .500 school, but with the way things are going in Huntsville there’s such a big upside with it.

“I’m familiar with that 7A region because we played almost every team in there at Muscle Shoals. I think, historically, they always go one round (in the playoffs) and get beat by teams in Birmingham. I can’t tell you why. We have great athletes up here. One of the things that drew me to the job is I think the region is wide open. We’ll have a chance to compete for championships.

“It has never bothered me to play good teams,” said Gay, who has a 60-36 record as a head coach. “If you’re going to be the best, you have to play them sooner or later. I have a pretty decent playoff record as a head coach and an assistant. I enjoy that kind of competition. If I don’t, I probably don’t need to be there.”

The logistics of Gay’s full-time move to Huntsville haven’t been decided, Flippo said, but the coach will be working with the Panthers as soon as possible before he moves to the city.