ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — The St. Albans High School football program is hosting a town hall meeting as part of its new staff’s efforts to change the culture.
The meeting will be held Wednesday at the St. Albans High School Auditorium starting at 6 p.m. It’s an opportunity for the community to meet the new staff, discuss fundraising, and support the program.
First-year head coach Dan Brown will lead the Red Dragons this fall. The Kentucky native brings 15 years of coaching experience, most recently at Sherman Junior/Senior High School in Boone County. He and his wife moved to the Mountain State in 2023 after their third child was born.
The Red Dragons football program has not posted a winning season since 2007, enduring 18 consecutive losing seasons. St. Albans has mustered four wins over the last four seasons combined, including a winless 0-10 mark last fall. The Red Dragons were shut out in each of the first four games to begin the season.
“When I first got on the job, we didn’t have any kids in the weight room,” Brown described. “The overall feeling of the program was kind of down.”
Because of the serious lack of numbers, there’s concern that the Red Dragons may not even have a football season.
However, in the four months since he’s taken the job, Brown reported more of the student body has come out. He said 38 have walked through the door so far, and the staff is working hard to add to those numbers.
“Me and my staff are trying to change the culture,” he said. “We are all about a family. We want our kids to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.”
Brown’s ideal number on the roster would be 70, so there’s work to be done. He said his minimum number for the roster is 35 players. To that end, the fewer guys you have on the roster, the more that kids will have to play both offense and defense, he said.
“The more bodies you have for the football team, the better, just due to practice being so intense,” Brown said. “With the more guys you have, the more opportunities you have for quality reps. By having 70 guys, you’ve got an opportunity to go offense and defense.”
Going forward, Brown said, retention is paramount.
“We want to get kids out, but for us to be successful — and it’s something that’s measurable — is how many kids do we bring back year over year?” Brown said. “How many freshmen come out this year, and then how many of those freshmen do we keep as sophomores?”
Brown emphasized the town hall meeting is not so much a “state of the program” event, but rather a chance for the staff to “put ourselves out there.” A good community turnout at the meeting would be great, he said.
“We would like to encourage anybody with (an) outside-the-box idea to come and share that with us,” Brown said.
He said flex practices begin on July 14 at 3 p.m. at Crawford Field. The SSAC date for practices to begin is August 3.
Brown said the staff is focused on changing the culture of St. Albans football with a “family first” attitude. He said his role is to ensure that the Red Dragons develop personally, just as much as athletically.
“Developing fine young men into community leaders, fathers, husbands,” Brown said. “We want our guys to lead the program better than they started, and that’s my goal; that’s my mantra.”
The Red Dragons are scheduled to begin the 2026 season at Shady Spring on August 28. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.