Three time state champ to lead OBHS football program

Three time state champ to lead OBHS football program
Jamey DuBose has been a proven winner at every stop

Three time Alabama state champion head football coach Jamey DuBose was recently approved as the next head coach at Orange Beach High School by the Baldwin County School Board. DuBose replaces Chase Smith, who left the program he built after three years to become head football coach and athletic director at Spanish Fort.
DuBose brings a 156-46 record as a high school head coach. He coached the last two years at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA, where his teams were 10-2 and 10-3, reaching the 2020 Class 7A semifinals and 2021 semifinals.
Dubose coached Central-Phenix City to a 66-11 record and the Class 7A state championship in 2018. He led the team back to the 7A title game the following year.
The Opp native and Troy grad also won two 6A championships at Prattville, where he posted a 45-10 record and won Class 6A state championships in 2008 and 2011. His team lost to Hoover in the 2009 title game. He also led programs at Susan Moore and Florence high schools. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Eufaula and also worked as an assistant coach at Ashville and Alma Bryant.
“I missed Alabama,” DuBose told AL.com upon being hired at OBHS. “The timing was right for me to come back and be closer to my mom. The mayor (Tony Kennon) is a great talker and seems like a great guy. I’m excited about doing something at a place that is almost brand new. Chase did a great job. In just two years, they won pretty good and set a good foundation. I’m excited to see what I can do to keep this thing rolling. I see this as a great opportunity,” he said. “Someone asked me today, ‘Why Orange Beach?’ My response was, ‘Why not Orange Beach? The timing of this move is wonderful. I’m ecstatic about it.”
In his farewell letter to the Lourdes community, DuBose said his father passing away suddenly just last month presented him with new responsibilities and priorities.
“My mom has always been here for me, and now it’s time for me to be there for my mom,’’ he wrote. “Family has always been a big part of my life and this football program, and at this point in my life, family has caused me to do something differently. It’s an opportunity close to my parent’s home and close to my mom’s doctors.’’
Smith was hired as Orange Beach High School’s first football coach and athletic director on April 1, 2019, four months before OBHS opened to 9th and 10th grade students.
“Starting a program from scratch can seem like an impossible task, but through Mako grit we all were able to make history with the success that our student-athletes achieved in just the program’s infancy,’’ Smith wrote in a farewell letter to Mako Nation.
The Makos debuted as a varsity program in 2020 with a lopside non-conference win against Shields on Aug. 20 and finished with a 3-6 record. The team followed with a nine win season and a home play-off game in 2021. One of the team’s two losses was a COVID related forfit.
DuBose was officially introduced at a press conference at the Performing Arts Center on the school campus, with the OBPD giving the coach an official escort to the meet ‘n greet.
“It’s what you believe and where you want to go,” DuBose said at the conference. “I believe Orange Beach can win a state championship.”
While he’s earned five state football championships, he said he has not won one by himself; it’s about the team and everyone matters.
“It’s about creating an atmosphere for everyone to be successful,” he said.
Orange Beach will move from Class 2A to Class 4A for the 2022-2023 school year. The AHSAA reclassifies every two years by enrollment based on average daily enrollment numbers for the first 20 school days after Labor Day. Public schools provide those figures to Alabama State Board of Education.
Orange Beach will compete in 4A, Region 1 with Bayside Academy, Escambia County, Jackson, Satsuma, St. Michael, T.R. Miller and Wilcox Central. St. Michael is coached by one of the best quarterbacks ever to play in the NFl, Philip Rivers.
Pictured: New Orange Beach High School football coach Jamey DuBose, flanked by his wife Tracey, is introduced to the Mako community during a April 1 press conference.