Goodwin leaving Russellville for Demopolis after two seasons at the helm of Golden Tiger varsity football

After a two-year stint as varsity football coach at Russellville High School, Dustin Goodwin will step down after accepting the same position at Demopolis High School, the Franklin Free Press has learned.

Goodwin met with his Russellville coaching staff and players Friday morning to inform them of his decision.

Russellville City Schools Superintendent of Education Tim Guinn confirmed Goodwin would be leaving Russellville with an effective resignation date of January 16, 2026. Goodwin will use vacation days until his employment at Russellville officially ends, so he is not expected to return to campus, Guinn said.

The varsity football head coach position is now posted on the Russellville City Schools’ website and is open for applications to be submitted.

“It was posted as of today (January 9, 2026),” Guinn said. “We are moving forward immediately with finding a new varsity football coach.”

Guinn did not specify a timeframe as to when a new coach would be hired, but did say the position will be filled as soon as possible, as evidenced by the immediate job posting.

Goodwin was hired at Russellville in 2024 and coached two seasons of Golden Tiger football, compiling a 14-9 record, including a 1-2 playoff record. Russellville finished as 5A Region 7 runner up both of Goodwin’s two seasons.

Goodwin’s other head coaching experience includes four years at Chelsea High School and three years at Plainview High School. His Plainview teams went a combined 21-12 and his Chelsea record was 15-27 in four years at the school. He served as Offensive Assistant and Wide Receivers Coach for 7A power Thompson in 2022 and 2023, as part of the coaching staff of the school’s 2022 state championship team.

He began his coaching career as quarterbacks coach on the 2008 Russellville High School staff, where his father Doug served as head coach at the time. Goodwin was on the staff of two state runner-up teams while at Russellville.

Goodwin’s wife Sara, a guidance counselor for Russellville City Schools, has not submitted her resignation and is expected to conclude the school year at Russellville or at least through late spring, Guinn said.

Sources tell the FFP Goodwin accepted the verbal offer from Demopolis officials earlier this week and Guinn said he was notified by Goodwin on Monday that the coach would be leaving.

The Demopolis City Schools Board of Education is expected to meet early next week and formally hire Goodwin. The next board meeting for Russellville City Schools is Tuesday, January 15th. Guinn said Goodwin has not officially tendered his written resignation so that item is not expected to be on the January 15th agenda.

The more likely scenario, Guinn explained, would be to call a special board meeting once Goodwin’s letter of resignation has been tendered.

Goodwin is a Demopolis High School graduate where he was an All-State athlete in both football and baseball. He attended Auburn University after graduation and was on the school’s 2004 football team. Goodwin graduated from the University of North Alabama where he was part of the Lions’ 2006 Gulf South Conference Championship football team.

In addition to his Demopolis ties, where his father had a successful head coaching tenure as well, the pending Alabama High School Athletic Association reclassification  may have contributed to Goodwin’s decision to leave Russellville.

With the anticipated January 23rd release of athletic realignment for the 2026 and 2027 school years, comes a growing likelihood that Russellville, although expected to remain in 5A, might be placed in a region with several schools that are currently 6A, including Muscle Shoals, Cullman and Decatur High Schools. This would create a significantly more difficult region alignment than Russellville has seen the past 10-plus seasons.

With the likelihood that private schools will be competing in their own playoff classification starting next year, the number of high schools to be classified from 1A-7A will significantly decrease, leading to the anticipated classification for many current 6A schools.

Efforts to reach Goodwin for comment were unsuccessful Friday morning.

We will continue to update this story as more news and information develops.