Troy University Athletics
Two Troy Legends Inducted into Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame
3/19/2024 12:34:00 PM | Football, General
TROY, Ala. – Troy national champion head coach Rick Rhoades and national champion running back Eddie Brundidge were inducted into the Alabama Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame on Monday night.
A member of the 1984 Troy State National Championship Team, Brundidge held Troy's single-game rushing record of 244 yards against Virginia Union in 1986 until this past season when Kimani Vidal rushed for 248 yards in the season opener. Brundidge and Vidal are the only players in program history with multiple 200-yard rushing games in program history.
Rhoades has a distinct place in Troy's football history as one of three coaches in school history to win a national championship. Rhoades' three seasons as the Trojans' head coach led to a pair of Gulf South Conference titles and the 1987 NCAA Division II National Championship; he also won a national title as Troy's defensive coordinator in 1984. The Trojans rolled off 12 straight wins to close out the 1987 season, including a 31-17 victory over Portland State in the title game, for which Rhoades was named the National Coach of the Year. The Trojans posted a 22-2 Gulf South Conference record during his tenure and won 19 of their final 20 league games.
Eddie Brundidge AHSAA Hall of Fame Bio
Eddie Brundidge, 60, graduated from Dozier High School in 1982 and Troy University in 1987 and quickly embarked on a teaching and coaching career in 1989 at Jackson High School. Now in his 35th year in education, he is serving at Houston Academy in Dothan as head football and track coach.
His storied career has been impressive at each stop – which has included two tenures at Jackson and T.R. Miller high schools. Best known for leading T.R. Miller's track program to seven state titles and six state-runner-up finishes, he also served as a key assistant coach for T.R. Miller's storied football program – helping the program finish second in the state in 1995 and 1996.
He served Jackson High School from 1989 to 1994 – coaching the girls' softball team to a state runner-up finish in 1992. After his first stop at T.R. Miller, he returned to Jackson in 1997 where he remained until 2004. During that tenure he served several roles including teacher, assistant principal, athletic director and was head football coach for six seasons leading the Aggies to the state playoffs in three of those years.
He moved back to Brewton and T.R. Miller in 2004 where he remained through 2017. During that time, he was a key assistant football coach and directed Tigers' track program to seven state titles and 13 runner-up finishes over the next 14 years. He left T.R. Miller in 2018 and moved to Houston Academy in Dothan where he has coached the indoor and outdoor track teams and has served as head football coach since 2021 compiling a 26-7 record through the first-round of the 2023 state playoffs with back-to-back 10-win seasons.
A well respected member of Alabama's high school coaching community, he was named the Alabama Assistant Football Coach of the Year for Class 3A by the AFCA in 2018; AHSADCA Boys' Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2016 for Class 3A, and the Girls' Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2010; South Alabama Track Coach of the Year in 2010 and the NFHS State Track Coach of the Year in 2009.
Rick Rhoades AHSAA Hall of Fame Bio
Rhoades, 76, holds the distinction of being the only coach in AHSAA history to serve as head coach for an AHSAA state high school football championship team and a college football championship team.
A 1965 graduate of Broomfield High School in Colorado, he earned a degree from Central Missouri State College (1970) and later earned a master's degree in secondary administration.
He began his coaching career at Floyd Junior High School in Montgomery, and in 1972 has an inauspicious beginning as a head coach going 1-8-1 at Handley High School in Roanoke. He returned to Montgomery, however, after that one season and worked on the staff of Hall-of-Fame coach Billy Livings at Jefferson Davis for three seasons.
Ready to try head coaching again, he replaced another HOF coach Robert Higginbotham at Mountain Brook in 1976 and led the Spartans to their second straight Class 4A state championship finishing 14-0 with a 52-28 victory over Murphy at Legion Field in the finals. He moved to Mobile the next season leading Davidson to a 7-3 mark, then spent two years at Troy University, then returned to the high school ranks as head coach at Andalusia going 6-4.
He left high school coaching again – landing back at Troy University serving as defensive coordinator for head coach Chan Gailey. One year later, the Trojans won the Division II National Championship. The next year, Gailey moved to the NFL and Rhoades was promoted to head coach. In 1987 he coached Troy to the National Division II college championship.
His career led him into pro football abroad and back to high school in his later years. He was head coach at Pelham for five seasons from 1996-2000 compiling a 41-19 record and reaching the state playoffs each year.
In his retirement years he has stayed close to high school sports – serving as a lead analyst and color commentator for the AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week and Super 7 championships for several seasons. He has also remained active in the community helping Pelham move from a county to city school system. He was the inaugural school board president where he served for 10 years. He was nominated for the AASB All-State Board of Education.
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