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By SETH HAGAN | Special to the Reporter

After several years on coaching staffs in the Montgomery and Birmingham areas, Tyler Blackwell is getting his shot as the head basketball coach of the Montevallo Bulldogs.

The new head coach is excited to build a program after spending the last several years alongside Chris Laatsch at Spain Park and Helena.

“I can’t thank coach Laatsch enough for the last five or six years,” Blackwell said. “I probably don’t have a long enough interview to tell you what I’ve learned from that man. He’s one of the best coaches out there in my opinion. He’s not just successful, but he runs a program the right way.”

Now it’s time to make his own mark in Shelby County.

“I’m excited to have my own program, these guys make it enjoyable to come to work every day, and I think it’s going to be something good for Montevallo for years to come,” Blackwell said.

Montevallo has enormous potential and have been a playoff team on a regular basis, but will now be learning from a third different head coach in three years.

Blackwell believes his players and his staff can team together to make up for that, and he’s already seeing several already have the mentality while coaching them on Friday nights.

“There’s a good group of kids already locked into place that have been playing varsity for some time now. They were with coach Dickinson and coach Bell last year. I think it’s their team and they’re going to help stabilize it as well,” Blackwell said. “I’m here to support them, I’ve seen them be leaders on the football team this year and they’ve had a remarkable run just seeing how competitive they’ve been.”

With several playing football and a talented group of athletes, Blackwell is hoping each will pay dividends this year.

“I’m excited, we’re going to be a really young group this year. We have four returning players on the varsity from last year, but the good news is those players got a lot of varsity experience so we have to kind of find some pieces around them,” Blackwell said. “We’ve got a lot of athletes who can give some people a lot trouble I hope, we just have to make sure we’re plugging in the right pieces.”

Montevallo will begin the season on Monday, Nov. 22 against Sidney Lanier.