DOTHAN, Ala. (WDNews) — Dothan High School football is entering a new chapter in the middle of its season after head coach Jed Kennedy stepped down Friday.
Dothan City Schools announced Kennedy’s resignation from the head coaching position was effective immediately. Kennedy will remain employed by the school system.
Assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jimmie Tyson has been named interim head coach and will lead the Wolves through the remainder of the 2026 season. Tyson brings previous head coaching experience, including time leading Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Florida.
While the immediate concern will be finishing the season, Kennedy’s departure also leaves Dothan with a larger question: What direction does one of the Wiregrass’ largest football programs take next?
Kennedy leaves behind a program that showed it could win against some of Alabama’s largest schools.
He took over ahead of the 2022 season and went 8-4 his first year, including a playoff victory. Dothan followed with an 8-3 season in 2023 before going 5-5 in 2024 and 6-4 in 2025. The Wolves were 2-3 this season when Kennedy stepped down. Overall, Dothan was 29-19 during his tenure.
The Wolves reached the playoffs in Kennedy’s first two seasons but missed the postseason the past two years.
That history could make the eventual coaching decision about more than simply rebuilding. Dothan has shown it can compete. The next coach will inherit a program looking for consistency and a return to regular postseason appearances.
There is also a major change surrounding the program this season.
Dothan is now competing in Class 6A after the Alabama High School Athletic Association eliminated Class 7A as part of its new classification system. Class 6A is now Alabama’s largest public-school classification and includes the state’s 32 largest schools.
The playoff structure has changed as well. Beginning this season, 24 of the 32 Class 6A football teams can qualify for postseason play, compared with 16 teams under the previous largest-class format.
That gives Dothan a different postseason landscape as it begins planning for the program’s future.
For now, however, the future starts with Tyson.
Taking over during the season is much different than getting an entire offseason to install a program. Tyson inherits the existing coaching staff, players and schedule, with little time to make major changes.
Dothan is 2-3 overall and 1-2 in region play. The Wolves entered their open week after back-to-back losses to Carver and Enterprise. Their next game comes Oct. 2 against Central-Phenix City.
How the Wolves respond over the remainder of the season could become an important part of the program’s next chapter.
Dothan City Schools has not publicly announced a timeline for naming a permanent head coach.
The decision will eventually give school leaders several options. They could maintain continuity with someone already connected to the program, or conduct a wider search for a coach with a different vision.
Either way, the next hire will inherit something different from the program Kennedy took over in 2022.
Dothan has recorded four consecutive non-losing seasons, won 29 games under Kennedy and competed for several years against Alabama’s biggest football programs.
The question now is not simply who replaces Kennedy.
It is whether Dothan can turn that foundation into the next step — becoming a consistent playoff program and eventually competing deeper into November.
