Job News

I have mentioned several times that Scott's job for the fall has been totally up in the air. Well, over the first few weeks of May, the Lord brought things to a conclusion...

It became clear that his New Albany science job was not going to be available. He was told that he could interview for the shop teacher's position at NAHS, and at the same time another job opportunity presented itself. The superintendent of the county schools contacted Scott about teaching science at East Union Attendance Center (where he taught before we moved to KY). Great, right? Only one catch... You guessed it, he would also be coaching football!

I am not going to go into the gory details of the decision making process, but we both agreed that the best choice would be working for the Union County School System.

There are 4 small Union County schools, and they have obtained permission to have one county-wide football team. Scott will be the head football coach for this new, experimental program. His primary tasks over the next few years are teaching the players the game, developing the program, and fundraising for a central facility.

There is not a lot of pressure... the goal is genuinely to teach the game and be a good role model. Also, the team will not be playing a varsity schedule... yet. This means that there will not be Friday night games or long Saturdays watching film, but there will be plenty of other logistical things to fill the time, I'm sure!

I was a little disappointed at first. I know it is selfish, but I was looking forward to a cross country season with us working together again. As I see him getting excited and doing well, I am proud of him and realize that it will be fine. Crazy busy, but fine.

This will definitely make for an interesting fall! I am trying to put some things into place to help me not lose my mind... we will see how that goes!

Here is an article that appeared in the Tupelo Daily Journal last week:

Duley Tackles Union County Football Challenge
Scott Duley was faced with the challenge of turning around a New Albany High defense that allowed more than 36 points per game in 2007.

After dropping that figure to almost 23 points per game this past season, he now has the task of teaching the basics of football to inexperienced players.

Duley, New Albany's defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, has been named the head football coach for the fledgling Union County School District program that is about to enter its second season.

"I was here before and I really enjoyed it," said Duley, 34, who taught previously at East Union Attendance Center nearly a decade ago. "It's a very good opportunity, No. 1, for these young men to play football, and for these communities to have a football program."

The Union County football program consists of athletes from East Union, Ingomar, Myrtle and West Union schools. Since those four schools are rather small in terms of enrollment, the most sound opportunity for the students to play football is if there was one program that incorporated all of the schools.

(New Albany High School, which is located in Union County, is not part of the Union County School District; the MHSAA Class 4A school is operated by the New Albany School District.)

Only seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders took part in the program's inaugural season under the watchful eye of acting head coach Chris Basil.

Basil has since become East Union's assistant principal and will no longer be coaching football. He will remain as the East Union head baseball coach.

This season, Duley expects students in the seventh through 10th grades to join the program.

"We will have a junior high team and at least something with the freshmen and sophomores," he said. "I would hate to have those young men who are now sophomores not have an opportunity to play."

No stranger to new things

Duley and his wife, Heather, were responsible for starting East Union's cross country program several years ago.

That goes to show that Duley, despite entering his first head-coaching job in football, can handle the responsibilities of developing a new program and bring it to a varsity level.

"Scott will be a good football coach," said Union County School District Superintendent Ken Basil. "He can handle anything, from fundraising on down."

Duley has already started getting the program ready for its second season by cutting the grass at the practice facility across the street from the East Union Attendance Center.

"We'll start meeting with these young men, hire some assistant coaches and hopefully get on the ball in the next couple of weeks," he said.

While nothing has been set in stone of where the team will be practicing, Duley said he would like to hold practice sessions this season at East Union.

Last year, the Union County schools held practices at the New Albany Sportsplex.

"What I hope is that we're able to get a permanent facility somewhere in a more central location, something owned by the Union County school system that we can use and it will just be ideal with all the parents," said the former Lambuth University offensive lineman.

As far as games go, the Union County program would like to play seven or eight games this season. Last season, the program played five games.

"Right now, the games we have scheduled are going to be on the road," Duley said of the five or six games his team currently has in the works for this year. "The New Albany school department and Superintendent Dr. (Charles) Garrett have been kind enough to extend an invitation to use their facilities.

"If we do have some home games, it will be at the New Albany home field."

Contact John Wilbert at 678-1572 or john.wilbert@djournal.com

Read more: NEMS360.com - Duley tackles Union County football challenge



Here is the article that appeared in our New Albany paper, the Gazette. When he saw the picture, he said, "All I could think was, 'My wife is going to KILL me!'" He had been mowing grass when the reporter arrived. She asked for his picture. Thinking that it was going to be a shoulders up shot, he folded down his overalls to get the straps out of the picture. Oh, no... instead, this was the picture right on the front of our sports section!!! How would you feel to see that this was your kid's new football coach!? :)
Duley to Coach County Football Program
By Elizabeth Zaremba

With the motto “Together we will,” the Union County football team will be under new leadership next season, but will continue to grow entering year two of the program.

Scott Duley is already well acquainted with his new teaching assignment at East Union as he and his wife, Heather, started the Urchins’ cross country program. Duley coached for three years at New Albany, one as a member of the freshman football team and two as the varsity defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs. Now back to lead Union County football, Duley is excited about the opportunity given to him.

“The things that Coach (Chris) Basil and his staff did last year, we want to build on those this year,” he said. “We want to be able to develop a plan to get these kids on a weight program, probably not this summer, but certainly in the offseason next summer. More than anything, we want to be able to treat these kids well and give them the opportunity to not only learn the game of football, but to teach them about life by being good role models to them.”

First things first is where the team will practice this season. Duley was found on Monday working on the field across from East Union, where they plan to have the team practicing as soon as MHSAA allows them to. Duley feels that having a home for the team is essential in the growing process.

“It would be wonderful if it were a central location in New Albany, but this is what we have it right now,” he said. “In the long run, having a permanent property will give these kids a sense of ownership. Maybe not the community’s because of the distance they’re having to travel, but it at least gives the kids ownership over the program.”

The team brought in over 100 participants in the opening week of practice, and Duley hopes to see similar numbers, with equal participation from each school.

“We want to continue to have good numbers. If you can get a good number going at each school, that’s good for each individual school, because you’ll have a core group of kids at each school playing football, as well as basketball and baseball, as these will be multi-sport athletes.”

Duley will next work on not only getting in touch with the kids in the program, but also with administration at each school, as well as selecting assistant coaches.

“I plan to talk to the kids this week, and I am also planning to speak with each school as to what they would like to see in order for the program to succeed and see how they would like their young men develop in the offseason programs we’re hoping to implement,” Duley said. “I have been given names of men who the administration thinks will be interested in coaching, and as it stands, we are going to have a coach from each school.”

Overall, Duley is excited about the interest in the community and hopes to continue developing a team the county can be proud of.

“The opportunities are not endless, but they’re great because the has wanted a program for a long time,” he said. “The possibilities that we’ll give the people in the communities, as well as the young men is something to be excited about.”