New American Leadership Academy head football coach Robin Bacon is rounding out his inaugural coaching staff with some new position coaches.

Bacon has added Mitch Strange from Irmo High School and Chapin High School to be the defensive line coach. Strange has 32 years of coaching experience that he’s bringing with him to American Leadership.

Former Clemson offensive lineman and position coach at Chapin and Heathwood Hall, Alex Dial, joins Bacon’s staff to coach up the offensive line as the co-offensive line coach. The other offensive line coach is Chris Neely, who has coached offensive lines at Fairfield High School and Dreher High School.

Dave Clark was hired to coach the wide receiving group and act as co-offensive coordinator. Clark has most recently made football coaching stops at Columbia High School (where he was on the coaching staff with current defensive coordinator Kemper Amick), Spring Valley High School and Cardinal Newman. Clark was also a successful soccer coach at Spring Valley as well. 

Will Gibson was hired to coach the defensive backs. Gibson has spent time coaching at Lugoff-Elgin High School, Richland Northeast High, A.C. Flora High School and most recently at Westwood High School. Gibson won’t be the only former Westwood coach on the staff as Marcus Walker has been hired to coach the linebackers. 

“I think that’s huge,” Bacon said about the newest additions to the staff. “We were able to go out and get three or four guys who have a lot of experience. When you’re kind of starting late to try to hire a coach, you’re trying to get the best fit, you know, not only just coaching wise but personality wise, work ethic and experience. I think we were able to get some really good coaches with some very diverse backgrounds and backgrounds with a lot of experience with big programs which helps.”

For their first year, American Leadership will be considered an “at-large” by the South Carolina High School Sports League and will not be eligible for postseason play nor will it play in a region until reclassification occurs in 2024. Bacon confirmed that it will play a junior varsity schedule this season and that all games will be on the road in 2023, with the expectation of finally getting to play home games in 2024.

With the challenge of not playing any home games and playing a modified schedule with no chance at postseason play, Bacon believes it’s important to bring a quality coaching staff and that the men he’s brought over are the right ones for the job.

“I’m always kind of a big believer in, with your staff, you want guys that obviously have a lot of experience but also have kids and I think that plays a lot because it helps you with empathy and dealing with kids,” Bacon said. “Obviously, when you’re starting a program from scratch, you want guys who are high character guys  who understand that it’s not going to be built overnight. It’ll take time to do it. Be patient and obviously be great teachers and I think that’s what we’re able to hire.”