Wahl ready to make impact at Briarwood

Keith Wahl has spent much of the past 20 years coaching high school athletes.

This school year, he’ll focus on coaching coaches.

Wahl, a Colorado native, moved to Birmingham with his family this summer in preparation for his new position as athletic director at Briarwood Christian School. He will take over for Lions head football coach Fred Yancey, who had served in the capacity since 2012.

“I felt like God had prepared us, had prepared me, for a time to lead,” Wahl said. “My entire focus is going to be to support our coaches here. My coaching will be done to coaches, and that’s the influence I’m looking forward to having, is coaching the coaches, so they can go coach their teams in an unbelievable fashion.”

Wahl and his wife, Alyson, along with their two kids, Mia, 9, and Brady, 8, came to Briarwood by way of Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Stanford University running back Christian McCaffrey, a 2015 Heisman Trophy candidate, ranks among the school’s most notable alumni.

Wahl started working at Valor, a private, Christian school similar to Briarwood, when it was founded in 2007. He served as the school’s head varsity baseball coach from 2007 through this past spring, capping his tenure with a state title in Colorado’s second-largest athletic classification.

Wahl himself played collegiate baseball at Hastings College in Nebraska.

In addition to coaching, Wahl taught English at Valor from 2007 to 2012 before transitioning into the role of assistant athletic director.

He said the experience has helped equip him for his new leadership position at Briarwood.  

“I had the opportunity to oversee eight or nine sports, so I had a chance to oversee the softball program and some of the great things that they’ve done there, the tennis program, the soccer programs, the wrestling program, the ice hockey program,” Wahl said. “I had a chance to dabble as an AD, just with less sports.”

Wahl said he first learned of the position at Briarwood in early April, after a Briarwood school board member informed Valor’s AD of the opening. The AD, Jamie Heiner, relayed the news to Wahl.

With his interest piqued, Wahl said he contacted Briarwood to inquire about the job. By mid-April, he flew in for an interview, and one month later, he accepted the position.

Although Wahl and his wife had never been to Alabama prior to the interview process at Briarwood, he said the school’s commitment to sports ministry — along with the area’s lush, hilly terrain — convinced him that he was making the right choice.

“Briarwood’s leadership is serious about that. I’m serious about that. That’s the core of what we do,” Wahl said in reference to sports ministry. “If we are not doing sports as a ministry, then we are no different than anybody else, and we have to be different in that regard. We have to be ministering to our kids. We have to be ministering to the opponents. We have to be spreading the news of Jesus through sport.”

Yancey, who has coached at the school since 1990, said he feels confident that Wahl will excel in his new role.

“I think we will discover that he is going to be a really strong leader who will be a perfect fit for Briarwood,” Yancey said. “I really believe that will happen.”