Photo by Erin Nelson.
Shane McComb, Oak Mountain High School’s new head football coach.
It’s safe to say no one had Shane McComb on any short lists predicting the next Oak Mountain High School football coach.
McComb was approved as the Eagles head coach Jan. 26, following seven years as the head coach at Palm Desert High School in California.
How does one get to Alabama from southern California?
“Football, man,” McComb said on Jan. 30, the day he met with the community and his team for the first time at the school.
Football has taken McComb to several different states. He played collegiately at Upper Iowa University and has had coaching stops along the way in Illinois, New Mexico and back in southern California, near where he grew up.
“Football has taken me a lot of places,” he said. “Probably nowhere better than Birmingham, so we’re excited to be here. It’s a place I want to raise my family.”
McComb comes from Palm Desert High, where he coached for seven years, winning district championships each of the last six seasons. Once he got the right people and processes in place, the team took off, posting a 33-2 conference record over the last six years.
“Clear expectations from the whole entire program,” McComb said, when asked what makes a successful football program. “That means parents, administration, myself, coaches and the boys. Everybody needs to know what their role is, what they’ve got to do, what’s expected of them, how it’s expected to be done.”
McComb has already integrated the motto “One Unit All In” into the framework of the Oak Mountain program. Put simply, it means doing everything together and being committed to the process.
“Every team has a phrase, and when you’re living that phrase, that’s when you’re successful,” he said.
McComb said he was sold on the job by Oak Mountain High Principal Andrew Gunn, saying he has turned down a couple jobs in the Southeast in recent years because they didn’t seem like the right fit for him.
“Mr. Gunn sold me, it’s as simple as I could say,” McComb said. “He has a vision, he knows what he wants and I truly believe he’s going to do everything he can with the resources that he will make available to make sure we have what we need to get there.”
McComb described his ideal team as being balanced offensively and able to do different things defensively.
“I just want kids to play hard and know what they’re doing,” he said.
Even being nearly 2,000 miles away, McComb knows about the football programs at Thompson and Hoover, now his Class 7A, Region 3 opponents. But he was quick to note that he has learned already about the likes of Vestavia Hills, Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park, Chelsea and Tuscaloosa County.
“I’m excited for the challenge,” he said. “The league we’re coming from, every game in the league was tough and that’s the way I’m looking at it.”
Oak Mountain finished with a 3-7 record last year under Tyler Crane, who led the Eagles for two seasons. McComb will arrive at the school full time in April, set to establish his program with a heavy emphasis on the weight room.
“On June 12, summer ball starts and the full staff will be here,” he said. “That will lead right into next year’s schedule, which is going to keep us in football together year-round, the way a program’s got to do.”
