Spain Park hires new football coach

Spain Park High School found its new head football coach, and the Jaguars didn’t have to look far. In fact, they only had to go 12 miles to find Chip Lindsey’s replacement.

Hoover High School defensive coordinator Shawn Raney accepted the job at a Hoover Board of Education meeting March 11. He will take over a Jaguar squad that finished 10-3 in 2012 and reached the AHSAA Class 6A quarterfinals under Lindsey.

Raney led the defensive unit of a Hoover squad that went undefeated in 2012 and won the Class 6A state championship. Prior to his three years with the Bucs, Raney coached at Oak Mountain High School, Iowa State, UAB and Butler County Community College in Kansas.

Raney takes over the vacancy left when Lindsey accepted a position last month to work with the Auburn Tigers football program in an off-the-field support role.

Lindsey was head coach for the Jaguars for two seasons, leading the team to its first 6A Region championship in 2012. Prior to that, he was quarterbacks coach at Troy University. He also served as offensive coordinator for the Hoover High Buccaneers in 2007, taking the team to a 10-2 record and advancing to the third round of the State Playoffs.

Raney said he is excited to take the reins at Spain Park.

"It's such a great job and such a great opportunity," he said. "It just worked out perfectly."

Hoover principal Don Hulin praised Raney’s Hoover tenure at the board meeting, but left his new cross-town rival a word of warning. "We'll always love you, except for that one night," he said in reference to whenever Spain Park and Hoover will face each other on the football field.

Raney, an Oklahoma native, and his wife, Jennifer, live in Shelby County.