One gets the feeling from talking with Kevin Barnwell that he’s been preparing to be a head football coach at the high school level for quite some time.
“Football is a sport I’ve always loved,” he said. “It’s the perfect stage to be able to reach kids and teach them some really valuable lessons. Sports is a great platform to reach kids, and that’s what I’m trying to do. If I can reach just one or two different kids, then I’ve given back to what some of my high school coaches gave to me.”
Barnwell, a 1989 graduate of Hackleburg High School who has spent 12 years teaching and coaching at Russellville, is expected to be hired as the new head football coach at Phil Campbell at a meeting of the Franklin County Board of Education on Tuesday.
“The decision was made because I know how hard he will work, and I know what kind of character he has,” superintendent Greg Hamilton said of Barnwell, who has coached defensive backs, quarterbacks and just about everything in between at RHS. “He is someone who will be an excellent fit, both for Franklin County Schools and for Phil Campbell.”
Phil Campbell is, in many ways, home for Barnwell. His mother’s side of the family is Bobcat born and bred, and he and his wife Jacqueline—along with their two boys, Luke and Jacob—attend services at Bear Creek Free Will Baptist Church, situated just between Phil Campbell and Hackleburg.
“Phil Campbell is a great community,” Barnwell said. “Half my family lives there, and I’ve got a lot of family and friends that are from there. We go to church down in that area, and I’ve always been close to that community. There’s a tradition there, and I’m looking forward to joining up with that. Hopefully we can build something special there. I’m excited to be a part of such a great community.
“The opportunity came open, thanks to Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Odom [Gary, principal at PCHS] and Mr. Riddle [Darit, the school’s athletic director], plus the Franklin County Board of Education members and a lot of people in the community who kind of spoke highly in my favor. I appreciate that, definitely. It allowed me to have this opportunity, and it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.”
Barnwell, who attended Northwest-Shoals on a manager’s scholarship [serving as a manager for the baseball team Greg Hamilton played for some 28 years ago at Northwest] before earning a degree in physical therapy from Wallace-Hanceville and his bachelor’s in education from Athens State, began his career in teaching and coaching in 2004 at Russellville when then-head coach Perry Swindall brought him on to coach defensive backs for the middle school team. Barnwell moved up to the varsity staff when Doug Goodwin took over the Golden Tiger program in 2007, coaching quarterbacks at the varsity level and also serving as offensive coordinator for the jayvee team.
It was in 2009 that Barnwell stepped away from his career in education, driven by a desire to spend more time with his wife and their two young boys. [Luke is now a freshman who started at quarterback for Russellville’s varsity team this past season, and Jacob is 12 years old.]
“It was a decision to spend more time with my kids, because they were younger then,” said Barnwell, who worked for two years in physical therapy at ECM Hospital. “You know how the coaching profession is, and I was doing basketball and football at the time. I decided to try and spend more time with my kids, but it turned out that my heart was still in teaching and coaching, so that’s where I returned.”
Barnwell broke back into the education ranks at Phillips High School for one year, where he served as defensive coordinator for the varsity football team and also head coach for the varsity girls basketball team. An opportunity came open in 2012 for him to return to Russellville, where he joined Michael Jackson’s staff as outside linebackers coach. He coached at the middle school level in 2013 while finishing his Masters degree through the University of North Alabama, and then he returned to the varsity level as an assistant under Mark Heaton in 2014. Barnwell coached outside linebackers for the Golden Tigers until this past season, when he took over defensive line duties.
Now, for the first time, he’ll have the chance to run his own program, and he’s got a clear vision of precisely what he wants to build at Phil Campbell and how he wants to build it.
“You’ve got those pillars for success that you base your program on,” Barnwell said. “For us, those things are commitment, discipline, effort, toughness and pride. The first thing is, you’ve gotta have commitment—from the coaching staff first, then from the players and also from the parents and the community. This isn’t a ‘me’ thing. It’s a ‘we’ thing. The goal is to inject positive energy into the program, always positive. That’s the most important thing.
“At the same time, we have to get everybody committed to first being there and then to doing the things on a day-to-day basis that will make this a successful organization. There will be days when you don’t feel like doing the things you’re required to do, and you’re going to have a choice to make.”
That’s where Barnwell’s second program pillar comes in—discipline.
“There’s the old-school idea of discipline, where you rule with an iron fist,” Barnwell said. “But as far as I’m concerned, discipline is a matter of choice. You have two choices as an individual. Do I want to feel the pain required to be successful now, or do I want to feel the pain of failure later? Discipline is a choice, and we’re gonna reiterate that to the players. Do I want to go hang out with my friends, or do I want to put in the work it’s gonna take to get those wins—not only on Friday nights but in life.
“The effort has to be there, too, and that’s another thing we’re gonna instill—constant effort, not only from me and our staff but also from our players. Playing with toughness, that’s something you’ve gotta work on every day. And then the last thing is playing with pride. Do I have the pride to consistently do the things that will not only make myself proud but also my family proud, my community proud and my school proud. That’s our goal—to hopefully give this community something they can be proud of.”
Phil Campbell made the playoffs twice in five years under former head coach Ryan Swinney, but the Bobcats have not had a winning season since 2001. They’ve had five different head coaches during that span, and Barnwell knows he has his work cut out for him—particularly with Phil Campbell making the jump to Class 3A this fall. He’s going into the job with his eyes wide open, but they show no fear.
“It’s gonna be a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity, and I’m excited,” Barnwell said. “I understand there’s a lot of work to be done, but I’m not afraid of work. Hopefully we can get that mentality into our program, so we can work together.”
Barnwell, who enlisted in the United States Army to help pay for his college education, didn’t play football at Hackleburg until his senior season in 1988. He credits former Hackleburg coach Bill Smith (who also coached for years in Franklin County at Red Bay, Vina and Tharptown) with helping him make a decision he calls “life-changing.”
“I wasn’t born in a football player’s body,” Barnwell said with a laugh. “That’s not what God gave me. I played basketball and baseball in high school, but I didn’t play football until my last year. Coach Bill Smith asked me to play football, and it was really a life-changer for me. I’d always hung around football, but getting to play and getting to play for him was a real honor. Had he not reached out, I may not have played.
“It was a life-changer. After that, there were times when I was in the Army doing basic training where it was hard for some people, but it wasn’t hard for me. Not after going through Coach Smith’s practices in high school and basketball practices with Coach Anglin. Hopefully I can give back to other kids what those coaches gave to me.”
Asked if his sons would be joining him at Phil Campbell, Barnwell replied in the affirmative, saying, “We’re in this together.” Luke Barnwell completed 60 percent (132-of-220) of his attempts as a freshman for Russellville, throwing for 1,314 yards and 10 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
Kevin Barnwell hinted that he would like to run an up-tempo, spread-type offense, but he also said personnel will dictate style and not the other way around.
"I worked with some head coaches who are really good offensive coaches in Coach Swindall, Coach Goodwin and Coach Heaton," Barnwell said, "and I took something from all of those guys. I'd like to open up the offense a little bit, but we'll have to wait and see what kind of personnel we have and whether or not that will be a good fit. We'll do whatever we need to do to give us the best chance to succeed."
