Building a winner: Jason Kervin takes over Oak Mountain football program

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Oak Mountain

The next chapter in the Oak Mountain High School football program is set to begin with a leader who takes pride in calling the area his home.

Jason Kervin’s name has been tied to high school football in Shelby County for most of his life — first as a quarterback playing for his father, then as an assistant coach who helped build championship habits and now as the man charged with taking the Eagles to the next level.

When Oak Mountain announced Kervin as its new head football coach, it landed a coach who has seen what it looks like at the very top of the mountain but possesses the humility of having already learned the hard lessons that come with leading your own program.

“This isn’t about me. This is an accumulation of all the people that I’ve been with, all having success and helping me get to this moment,” Kervin said.

Roots in the area

Kervin grew up around the game, and he is the first to tell you how much of his identity, and his edge, come from the example set by his father, DeWayne.

Jason Kervin played for his dad at Shelby Academy and quarterbacked the 1998 team that won the state championship, the first title of DeWayne Kervin’s career. DeWayne Kervin went on to win 172 games in 26 years at Shelby Academy, retiring after winning his second state title in 2006.

It is not just the resume that still shapes Jason. It is the way his dad did it and the way his dad still speaks into his life.

“I’ll say this — there’s nobody else’s opinion I care about except for my dad’s,” Jason Kervin said. “That’s why I am who I am.”

Even now, that foundation remains a guiding point. Kervin talks easily about purpose and about what the sport can foster when done the right way.

“I love coaching kids. I take a lot of pride in building kids’ self-esteem, self-confidence, self-image —  and to get it through a sport is dynamic and something that challenges you like nothing else is going to challenge you,” he said.

The first break and a climb through Alabama

Kervin’s coaching journey began with the kind of opportunity that may not be fully appreciated in the moment. But as time has passed, Kervin realizes his time as an assistant at Calera was pivotal to his career.

He calls his two years there a “big break.”

From there, the path led to Hoover, where Kervin spent 12 years as an assistant coach under Josh Niblett. In that span, Hoover won six state championships, a run that gave Kervin a front-row seat to what a high-level program looks like every day and why those standards matter.

Kervin still speaks about Hoover with the kind of tone you hear from a coach who lived it.

“I bleed orange and black,” he said.

Niblett, now the head coach at Gainesville High in Georgia, believes Oak Mountain is getting more than a familiar name.

“Jason Kervin is one of the most loyal guys you can have. The impact he had with our players and program on and off the field was incredible. He had a connection with our players and our staff. He is a coach who understands the importance of the developmental piece within the program for each player. As a leader, he has an expectation for everyone in the program, including himself,” Niblett said.

That view of Kervin as a developer shows up repeatedly when people who have worked around him describe what he brings. Myra Miles, the athletic director at Hoover while Kervin was there, put it plainly.

“Oak Mountain got a gem in hiring Jason Kervin,” she said. “He is not only a developer of on-field talent; he is a developer of positive culture. He is a connector of positivity, and his teams will always play hard and with class. He has always understood that all aspects of a program will have tremendous success when everyone supports each other.”

Lessons learned

After years of championship-level work as an assistant, Kervin eventually took his first head coaching job at Alpharetta High in Georgia. He spent five seasons there, reaching the playoffs four times and posting an 8-4 record in 2022. Kervin has been candid about what those seasons taught him — not only about scheme but about what it takes to build a program that can sustain itself.

“It humbled me in a lot of ways, and that’s different than losing your confidence,” he said.

Kervin said he still possesses that confidence, but he realizes now that equally important to his coaching acumen is being surrounded by quantity and quality when it comes to assistant coaches.

“And I’m proud of what we did. I’m proud of how we served those kids at Alpharetta. We gave them something,” he said. “We ran it the right way, we played tough, we had class, we had character,” Kervin said.

Returning home

Kervin’s return to Alabama included a stop at Pelham, where he served as the strength and conditioning coordinator for Pelham City Schools. He described that season as restorative, a place that helped rebuild him in ways that mattered beyond football.

“Pelham holds a special place in my heart, obviously, because they brought me home, and in a lot of ways, they rebuilt me and built me back up,” he said.

Pelham head coach Ross Newton saw that impact up close.

“Jason Kervin is a great addition to any program. He will do a good job as head coach. We were lucky to have him as our strength coach this year. He is organized [and] motivated and really cares about helping young people be the best they can be. I wish him the best of luck in all but one game every year.”

That chapter, as short as it was, also helped shape the tone Kervin wants at Oak Mountain. He is not interested in the job being about him. He is interested in building something that feels connected, supported and sustainable.

Building Oak Mountain

From the moment Kervin walked into the building at Oak Mountain, he said he felt the kind of energy he believes can be built upon.

“I see that it’s a tight-knit community. It’s a tight-knit group of coaches — not just in football but across sports — and the same thing with the teachers,” he said. “For it to be as big a school as it is, you can tell the people there want to be in that building.”

That sense of community is part of why he took the leap, but so is the competitive pull. When Oak Mountain introduced him, Kervin did not hide the part of him that wants to test himself in the toughest environment. The Eagles compete in Class 7A, Region 3, alongside well-known state football powers like Thompson, Hoover, Hewitt-Trussville and Vestavia Hills.

“The opportunity to coach [Class] 7A football in this region — in this area — it’s where the best football is played and where the best coaches are,” he said. “That’s something that, as a competitor, you want.”

Kervin believes the path to winning at Oak Mountain starts with running a high-level program year round and improving every facet — from development to details.

“If you are at Oak Mountain, it’ll be the best place that you can be for your kids to get developed year round and for them to get to the next level. That’s for sure,” he said.

That blend of competitiveness, structure and personal connection is what people around the region have come to associate with Kervin. Vestavia Hills coach Robert Evans, who worked at Hoover during Kervin’s time there, called the hire a difference maker for a region that does not offer easy outs.

“Jason Kervin is an outstanding hire for Oak Mountain. Coach Kervin is a great family man who will love and motivate his players at a high level. Region 3 got tougher with this hire,” Evans said.

Oak Mountain athletic director Chris Blight said as much when the hire became official.

“Throughout the search process, it was clear that Coach Kervin brings the perfect blend of leadership, integrity and vision that will elevate our program to new heights,” Blight said. “His passion for developing student-athletes, both as competitors and as young men, aligns perfectly with the values we hold as a school and a community.”

Kervin knows Oak Mountain last made the playoffs in 2021, and he understands the weekly grind of Region 3. Still, he says the belief has to come first because doubt becomes its own ceiling.

“We are our own glass ceilings,” he said, describing what he believes can hold programs back. “And I’m not scared to make that next jump.”

He is ready to build the program to a level the community expects and can take pride in. To do it in a place he calls home is an added bonus.

“You’re going to get a coach that’s passionate — that will push the kids, love them, coach them hard, be disciplined — and when we get on the field on Friday nights, that’s what we’re going to do,” Kervin said.