The Bayshore Christian Eagles have added a pair of veteran coaches to their staff with a new boys’ basketball coach and defensive coordinator.

Andy Ryan was tabbed to lead the boys’ basketball program with 19 years as a head coach in Lower Alabama. After he became the girls’ head coach at Baldwin County for three seasons (2003-06), he spent six as the boys’ head coach in Fairhope (2006-12) then took over the boys’ team at Saraland for 10 years (2012-2022).

Last season, the Bayshore Christian boys’ basketball team went 2-2 in Class 1A Area 1 for third place. Butch Case was the head coach for the previous four seasons.

David Stapleton is set to rejoin forces with head football coach Phil Lazenby and serve as defensive coordinator. The football coaches bring nearly 90 years of combined coaching experience to the Eagles’ first varsity football season.

Stapleton previously assisted Lazenby as defensive coordinator at Bayside Academy from 2019-22 before he returned for a second coaching stint at St. Paul’s. He also served as a head coach at Robertsdale (1992-93), Daphne (1994-96) and Shades Valley (1999-2002).

Bayshore Christian athletic director Jeff Hauge, who previously worked with both Ryan and Stapleton at Fairhope High School, announced the hires on Thursday, June 13. It was partially that history that helped Stapleton jump on the opportunity that made him feel “like going home again.”

“We probably go back 30-plus years, but we worked together at Bayside Academy for four seasons,” Stapleton said of Lazenby in a June 20 interview. “I grew up in Fairhope, I’m a former Fairhope Pirate, spent a lot of years as DC in Fairhope but Coach Laz and I have a great relationship, he’s a lot of fun to work for. He’s a state hall of fame football coach and he’s obviously been very successful.”

Stapleton acknowledged the unique opportunity presented by the Eagle program which is gearing up for just its second year with a football team. After last year’s junior-varsity season, Bayshore Christian was aligned for varsity play this year in Class 2A Region 1 with a reported enrollment of 160 students.

“This is their first Alabama High School Athletic Association season so we’re going to have our work cut out for us, but the kids seem very eager. They’re very attentive, they’re very respectful, they’re yes sir no sir kids, which we’d demand anyway. They’re really good kids and I think they’re willing to learn,” Stapleton said. “We’ll find out a little bit more about them once we’re really able to put pads on them. With the school being so small, most of those kids that are out were playing spring sports so it’s almost impossible for him to have a full spring training.”

Although most of his career has been spent in the larger classifications, the sport remains the same between the lines.

“Football is football whether it’s 1A or 7A — but my point being, with the numbers being so low, we’re going to have to play more than several kids both ways and that’s tough to do for 12-minute quarters of varsity football,” Stapleton said. “We’ve got to do a great job conditioning those kids and getting them ready to go. But you’ve got to keep things scheme-wise relatively simple.”

Despite the youth and its associated challenges, the coach looked forward to a new adventure this fall with the Eagles.

“I think that we’ll have a chance to have some success and you’ve got to have players,” Stapleton said. “Coaching is important, but you’ve got to have players and I think we’ve got a handful they’re going to be pretty good.”

The first varsity football season in Bayshore Christian history is set to kick off with a preseason jamboree on Aug. 23 against Fruitdale before an Aug. 30 road trip to McIntosh for the regular-season opener. The Eagles’ first varsity home game is scheduled for Sept. 12 against Clarke County, which will also begin region play.

Bayshore Christian fans can hear Lazenby and key athletes preview the season at the third-annual Gulf Coast Media Day at the Orange Beach Event Center on July 25.