Douglas legend and Marshall County Sports Hall of Famer Alan Thacker is returning to coach Douglas girls basketball.
“It happened really fast. I haven’t had time to absorb it, but the kids, the parents and the community have made it exciting for me so far,” Thacker said.
Thacker was the head girls’ basketball coach at Douglas High School for 23 years before his return to the sidelines. Thacker led the Douglas girls to incredible highs, as his teams won four area titles and competed in the only three Sweet Sixteen appearances in school history. His 2001-2002 team defeated Central Coosa in the Northeast Regional final at Jacksonville State and qualified for the AHSAA Class 4A Final Four. The Lady Eagles were eliminated in the state semifinals by eventual State Champion T.R. Miller. His 2012-13 team set the school record for wins with 24. Thacker retired from public education in 2015, netting 322 wins as the Lady Eagles’ basketball coach. He also spent two seasons coaching the Marshall Christian School boys basketball team. Over the course of his remarkable career, Thacker has amassed an impressive 348 varsity wins
The opportunity to return to the sidelines was brought up by Douglas High School Principal Brian Sauls.
“Like a lot of retired coaches, people ask a lot if you are coming back. Through my Douglas career and my Marshall Christian career, I loved coaching, there was just a lot of other things I loved too. I was never bored; I was just enjoying other projects I had going on. I wasn’t going to apply for this job, and it was unexpected. Dr. Brian Sauls approached me, and it felt better and better. Now we are here.”
Thacker is set to replace Cliff Mitchell as the new girls basketball head coach.
“What I am hoping for our new program is that they take what we can teach them and add it to all that they learned from Coach Cliff Mitchell and Coach Miller. Coach Mitchell is a great coach. Today at our first practice, we had kids hustling from station to station and they are dedicated about being at practice. Coach Mitchell didn’t leave kids that were hard to coach or hadn’t been coached right.”
Thacker plans on coaching for a few years, as he hopes to leave the program in good shape.
“I try to approach this as being real honest. I am not that old, as some coaches coach into their 70s and I have a long time before that. I am expecting more of a three, four or five year run as opposed to a 10, 15 or 20 year run. With my thoughts, it will probably be a few years and hopefully leave the program in good shape for a good one to follow me.”
Thacker enjoyed his first practice with his new players on Monday afternoon, where he was impressed with the skills of all of his players.
“The pleasant surprise was that no one played bad. Now that may sound silly, but with signing up and everyone got to come out, sometimes you have players who can’t do the drills. We had a good, productive practice of 20 players. I felt good after the first day, it went better than expected.”
“We are a very small team, this will be 24th year with varsity girls, and this will be one of the smallest teams I have ever coached. We want to work to get better at small increments every day. It will be a big deal when we have less than 20 turnovers in a game, that will be big for us. Down the road, we might get less than 10. There might be a game where we have 30 turnovers, but not many of them. We might get mad on them, but we will not get frustrated. We are going to be coaching the process over the result because they will get the ultimate results when they keep on. We will have to work on the rebounding, as we lack the size.
Joining Thacker’s staff will be assistant coaches Jacey Scott and Jessica NeSmith, who are both former players of Thacker.
“Staff has just fallen into place. Our intention wasn’t necessarily to get two of my former players on the coaching staff, but it just so happened and it’s the right fit. Our assistant coaches are Jacey Scott, which was the all-time leading scorer for boys and girls programs at Douglas. Jessica NeSmith is another former player joining our staff. We are excited about them,” Thacker concluded.
Thacker is an inductee of the 2024 class of the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame. Thacker’s MCSHOF biography as it appears on his plaque is:
Alan Layne Thacker was born on March 4, 1966, in Gadsden, Alabama, to Bill and Faye Thacker. Bill was a truck driver and avid Douglas High School Booster Club member, who helped start the D.H.S. football program in 1970. Faye was a housewife, who stayed home to take care of the five Thacker children, all of whom are Douglas High School former athletes and graduates. Alan’s older brother Darrell excelled in football and track. His older sister Delynn Crawford played volleyball and finished 3rd in the state high jump. Younger brother Mark was an All-County and All-Area quarterback. Younger sister Lana Quigley was an All-State volleyball player, who led her team to the State Final Four and played two years on scholarship at Gadsden State.
Alan played youth baseball in the Douglas youth leagues and was the Douglas school spelling bee champion for three consecutive years in grades 6-8. He was active in sports at Douglas High. As a freshman on the junior high football team, coached by 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Kenneth Adams, Alan led the team with three interceptions in just six games. Alan was teammates his junior year with Hall of Famers Norman Bonds and Charlie Jimmerson, and the 9-1 Eagles were coached by 2022 inductee Paul McAbee. As a senior defensive back during the 1983 season, Alan recovered a pair of fumbles and had an interception. One of his most remarkable feats that year was when he recovered two onside kicks for the Eagles. Alan also played basketball and was on the track team during his high school days. He was awarded the Douglas Coach’s Award in both football and basketball following his senior seasons.
After graduating from Douglas High in 1984, Alan attended Snead State Junior College, serving as a student coach for Snead Coach Phillip Smith’s volleyball team and a student manager for the Parson softball team, coached by Billy Smothers. When his two years at Snead State came to a close, he transferred to Jacksonville State University, where he graduated in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in education to teach mathematics. During his college years, Alan always had at least one part-time job, sometimes two or three at a time, including umpiring Dixie Youth Baseball, umpiring ASA Men’s Softball, refereeing high school volleyball, refereeing junior college volleyball, & volunteering as a football coach at D.H.S. He also found time to compete as a player-coach on successful men’s volleyball and men’s softball teams in leagues & tournaments, all on teams with former teammates from high school & childhood friends.
Alan’s first teaching job was at Asbury Junior High School, where he coached boys’ basketball for two seasons and girls’ basketball for one season. After his two years at Asbury, Douglas High School Principal John Beck invited Alan to return home to D.H.S. He was named the head volleyball coach and head girls’ basketball coach at his alma mater. Alan spent sixteen years as the head volleyball coach for the Lady Eagles. His very successful tenure included 6 area championships, 3 state tournament appearances, and a state runner-up finish in 1994. He finished his Douglas volleyball career with 429 wins.
Alan was the head girls’ basketball coach at D.H.S. for 23 years. His teams went toe-to-toe with teams coached by Marshall County Sports Hall of Famers like Gerald Thomas, Julia Casey, Tonya Littleton, Laura Clark, and fellow 2024 inductee Jimmy Jones. Coach Thacker led the Douglas girls to tremendous success. His teams won 4 area titles and competed in the only 3 Sweet Sixteen appearances in school history. His 2001-2002 team defeated Central Coosa in the Northeast Regional final at Jacksonville State and qualified for the A.H.S.A.A. Class 4A Final Four. The Lady Eagles were eliminated in the state semifinals by eventual State Champion T.R. Miller. His 2012-13 team set the school record for wins with 24. Alan retired from public education in 2015, netting 322 wins as the Lady Eagles’ basketball coach.
Coach Thacker entered the private school arena following his retirement from public education. He taught math at Marshall Christian Academy in Albertville and coached boys’ basketball for two years and volleyball for five seasons. In basketball, the Stallions reached the Alabama Christian Athletic Association state tournament both years, including the school’s first Final Four in Alan’s second year as head coach. In addition, the Stallions won the A.C.A.A. junior high state championship both years. Alan’s volleyball team also made two state tournament appearances, including winning the A.C.A.A. State Championship in 2017. The Lady Stallions defeated three-time defending state champion Tuscaloosa Academy in the finals. Coach Thacker was named A.C.A.A. Coach of the Year in 2018. Combining his time at D.H.S. and M.C.A., Alan amassed 501 career volleyball wins and 348 career basketball wins as a head coach.
Alan also spent time coaching Amateur Athletic Union (A.A.U.) and Youth Basketball of America (Y.B.O.A.) boys’ basketball from 1996-2004 for the Marshall County Magic and Alabama Kings. His teams either won or finished runners-up in over 40 tournaments. They won the A.A.U. state tournament in 1996 and again in 1997. In 1996, they played in the A.A.U. National Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were runners up in the Y.B.O.A. state tournament in 1999 and qualified for and played in the Y.B.O.A. National Tournament in Orlando, Florida.
On July 8, 2009, Alan married the former Wendy Smith. Wendy is a special education teacher of special needs students at Douglas High School. Alan has a stepson Carson Aaron, who just completed his first year of teaching history and coaching softball at Cullman High School. Carson recently married the former Macy Jones of Guntersville. Alan is now retired from coaching but serves Douglas High School as a part-time math intervention teacher. He is currently compiling athletic history and record books for Douglas High School sports and is chairman of the Douglas High School Sports Wall of Fame committee, which will induct its first class in 2025. He is an active member of Douglas First Baptist Church and is a member of the American Mensa Organization.
(via @visitljubljana/TT)
