"Coach King has all the assets we were looking for: strong character, excellent leadership skills and experience as both a player and coach. He also happens to be a hometown hero.”     — DHS principal Meredith Foster

DAPHNE— Kenny King was introduced as Daphne High's new athletic director and head football coach Friday during a meet and greet at Trojan Hall on the DHS campus. The Daphne and University of Alabama alumnus and former NFL player was named to the position unanimously by the Baldwin County Board of Education Thursday night.

King said it was good to be home and described himself as an investor.

"It’s exciting to come back and be a part of the Trojan pride that is in my heart. In 1997, when I was a sophomore here at Daphne, my coach made an investment in me. Now it’s my turn to return that investment to the program that helped me achieve so much. My goal, my purpose is to invest in your children, our schools and our community. My job as athletic director and head football coach is to communicate and teach not only details of the game as well as life lessons, but prepare these young athletes for their future.”

Daphne principal Meredith Foster said King was selected from a field of more than 100 applicants.

“Coach King had all the attributes we were looking for,” she said. “Strong character, excellent leadership skills, successful experience as both a player and a coach. He also happens to be a hometown hero.”

Since retiring from pro football he has been an assistant coach at nationally-ranked Hamilton High School in Phoenix, Ariz., for more than three years. King finished at Daphne under then head coach and AD Steve Savarese before becoming a four-year starter with the Crimson Tide. He was twice named an All-SEC overall selection and was a three-time SEC All-Academic selection at UA. He was also twice selected Alabama’s Iron Man. The defensive end then played four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and one season with the Baltimore Ravens before injuries forced his retirement in 2008. 

He takes over from Glenn Vickery who retired in January after 15 years in the position at DHS. King, 34, is the fifth head football coach in Daphne history. Current BCBE superintendent Eddie Tyler was the first in 1989. Savarese (current Alabama High School Athletic Association executive director) was the third after David Stapleton and prior to Vickery. The Trojans haven’t missed the playoffs since 1997 and won Class 6A state titles under Vickery in 2010 and Savarese in 2001. King and wife Strelitzia, of Huntsville, have three children: Kenneth (7), Kennedy (5) and Ransom (4).