Troy Athletics

Brian Blackmon, one of the most successful and respected high school coaches in the state of Alabama, has been named an assistant coach on the Troy football staff, head coach Neal Brown announced Monday.

Blackmon, who will coach Troy’s tight ends and S-Backs, joins the Troy staff following one season as an offensive analyst at Auburn following a 21-year career at Opelika High School.

“Brian is well thought of across the state of Alabama and those relationships are critical when it comes to recruiting this state,” Brown said. “Brian’s resume at Opelika speaks for itself when it comes to his ability to coach football. What goes unnoticed by many is the work he did for the sport at the administration level as the president of the Athletics Director and Coaches Association.

“A lot of coaches who have held the offensive analyst role at Auburn under Gus Malzahn have gone on to have great success at the collegiate level,” Brown said. “With Brian’s experience and drive for the game of football, I have no doubt he will do the same.”

Among the coaches who had also held the offensive analyst position with the Tigers are Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, Georgia running back coach Dell McGee and South Carolina running backs coach Bobby Bentley.

“I’m humbled to have the opportunity to come back to Troy and work with Coach Brown,” Blackmon said. “Troy is a special place and the success on the field speaks for itself, but the culture that Coach Brown has created is what I think separates Troy from other universities.”

In his lone season on The Plains, Auburn’s offense ranked in the top 30 nationally in total offense, rushing, pass efficiency and scoring as the Tigers won the SEC Western Division and played in the SEC Championship Game. Running back Kerryon Johnson was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year and Auburn finished the season with a Peach Bowl appearance after knocking off a pair of No. 1 teams – Georgia & Alabama – over the season’s final three weeks.

Blackmon served as the head coach of the Opelika football program in his final eight seasons (2009-16) at the school, while also serving as the athletics director during the same time period before leaving for Auburn in February 2017.

Opelika advanced to a pair of Alabama 6A state championship games (2012 & 2016) and the Bulldogs compiled a 69-25 record during Blackmon’s tenure. He was honored as the 6A Coach of the Year in 2012 by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, the Alabama Football Coaches Association, the Opelika-Auburn News, Columbus SportsVision and AL.com.

The Bulldogs won three consecutive region championships and advanced to the playoffs in seven of his eight seasons as head coach. Blackmon left Opelika as the third-winningest coach in the then 99-year history of the high school.

He has served as president of the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association and on the advisory, Hall of Fame, reclassification and all-star selection committees of the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Additionally, he served on the high school task force of USA Football and as a district board member of the Alabama Football Coaches Association.

Blackmon spent his first 13 years at Opelika as the offensive coordinator under legendary head coach Spence McCracken; he also served as assistant athletics director from 2001-08 and coached the soccer, wrestling and golf teams during his career at Opelika. He was named the Alabama Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2004 season and was a consistent figure on the coaching staffs of the Alabama-Mississippi and North-South all-star games.

A graduate of Robert E. Lee High in Montgomery, where he was part of the 1991 state champion football team and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2017, Blackmon played one season at North Alabama before transferring to Troy to complete his studies.

Blackmon earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Troy in 1996 and a master’s degree in business education from Auburn in 1998. He and his wife Kellie have two children, Cade and Carlyle.