E.A. Sports Today

Stepping back

After 25 years in coaching, including three state titles in cross county and five area titles in boys’ and girls’ basketball, Pleasant Valley’s Hood ready to turn over head-coaching reins.

Pleasant Valley boys’ basketball coach Brad Hood in action during an area-tournament game at Pleasant Valley in 2024. He will step back from head-coaching roles after this season. (Photo by Joe Medley/East Alabama Sports Today).

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

PLEASANT VALLEY — Brad Hood still likes the sneaker squeaks of a basketball practice or game. The veteran Pleasant Valley coach could even see himself enjoying it as an official some day, or maybe as an assistant coach.

He’s just ready to relinquish head-coaching duties.

Hood acknowledged publicly Sunday what he told administrators before basketball season and what he told his Pleasant Valley boys’ basketball players weeks ago. He’s stepping back from head-coaching duties after a long career working with cross country and track, girls basketball and boys’ basketball.

The Raiders will begin play in the Class 2A, Area 13 boys’ tournament Monday at Gaston. They open against Gaston, and Hood hopes to have a few more games left.

Monday’s game, however, could be his last.

His decision to step back from head coaching comes in his fifth season coaching Pleasant Valley’s boys. It also comes three years into his time working at the Calhoun County Career Academy campus, instead of the Pleasant Valley campus. His decision also comes while his contracting business, Hood Homebuilding Co., thrives.

“After 20-something years of it, it’s just tough doing it, not being on campus, now that I’m at career tech,” he said. “Being 20 minutes way and commuting, you just don’t get to see your kids every day in the hall.

“It’s just been tough.”

Hood began coaching in 1998. He coached at Pleasant Valley as an assistant under Shane Sanderson from 2000-04 then served as an assistant under David Deerman at Jacksonville from 2004-08.

Hood has worked at Pleasant Valley since 2008.

He coached Pleasant Valley’s girls to back-to-back state cross country titles in 2015 and 2016 and the boys to a state cross country title in 2018, the school’s first-ever team state title in a boys’ sport.

Hood coached what he called “probably the greatest team we ever had” in 2017, but senior Rachel Faucett came down with the flu and didn’t score at the state meet.

“They literally went two years without being defeated, and they ended up finishing second at state that year,” Hood said.

He also coached girls’ basketball five seasons, going 99-32 with three area titles and one Northeast Regional appearance. The Raiders went 27-3 in 2015-16.

Hood coached daughters Gracie and Emma.

He coached Pleasant Valley’s boys basketball team for eight years over two stints, wrapped around his time with the girls’ program, going 97-105 two two area titles. His son Greyson is an eighth grader in the program.

“I wanted to leave it when it was in good shape, not when it was falling apart and it’s, like, riding off into the sunset,” Hood said. “With our junior high being competitive and our varsity guys having only one senior, if they work and stick together, they can be a force over the next couple of years.

“Most of our best athletes are ninth and 10th graders, and the big thing is just leaving it to where somebody else can take it to the next level, somebody that can be in the hallway.”

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