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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The 2024-25 season was a year of firsts for the Montevallo Bulldogs, with the biggest one being the school-wide transition to Class 5A in athletics as they moved from their longtime home of Class 4A into a bigger and more challenging classification.

The Bulldogs were banking on that change going into the 2024-25 season, but what they weren’t banking on was a late coaching change.

Montevallo was forced to pivot to a new coach after an entire summer of training and got a new leader in Byron Gaskin, a former Hoover assistant coach stepping into the role as the main man leading the Bulldogs into a new era.

However, he took all the adversity in stride and helped his team get hot at the right time to make history.

From going on the road to win an area title to coming back from 22 down to reach Montevallo’s first Elite Eight since 2020, Gaskin created a resilient team, and as a result, he is more than deserving of the Shelby County Coach of the Year award for boys basketball in the first year of asking.

Gaskin instilled a defense-first mentality into his team that fed into everything that they did on the court, and that intensity translated the moment that the Bulldogs stepped onto the floor.

On the opening night of the season against Briarwood Christian, Montevallo showcased an intensity on both sides of the floor that fueled big runs and led to big defensive plays and transition offense.

That carried over into a very difficult non-area schedule that saw the Bulldogs regularly take on teams from Class 6A and even 7A. While that difficulty led to a five-game losing streak going into the back part of the Trinity Christmas break tournament, Gaskin used those moments to build a team that would be resilient down the stretch.

As a result, Montevallo cruised past Jemison and Demopolis to set itself up well for the area tournament, even if it would have to go on the road to Selma for it. After beating Jemison again in a tight 39-32 area semifinal to clinch a playoff spot, the Bulldogs weren’t done.

Facing off against a Selma team it had lost to twice already this season, Montevallo flipped the script and emerged with a 57-50 victory to take the area title in their first season in Class 5A.

While the Bulldogs then cruised in the sub-regionals on the back of its defense, which allowed just 32 points to Holtville, their biggest bout of adversity lay ahead.

Just like in the area finals, Montevallo faced off against a Briarwood team that had already beat it twice during the regular season in non-area play. What’s worse, a hot shooting start by the Lions left the Bulldogs in a 22-point hole with time running out.

That’s when everything changed.

Riding the back of an electric crowd, Montevallo stuck to its defensive fundamentals and guarded the rim well while also forcing steals from the Briarwood backcourt. Those turnovers led to points from Dee Cutts and Buck Ross just like they had all season with the pair combining for over 200 steals this season.

The Bulldogs grabbed hold of the momentum and held on for not only their first Elite Eight trip in five years, but their first regional finals appearance in Class 5A in their first year in the classification.

“We overcame a lot of obstacles through our season,” Gaskin said after the Sweet 16 win. “I don’t think anybody thought we’d be the area champions, make it to the Elite Eight. We’re real proud of these guys and just the fight that they show.”

Gaskin attributed the success to the team’s ability to overcome adversity throughout the season. That culminated in a seven-game win streak where the Bulldogs stepped up in the biggest moments and delivered one of the biggest moments in the history of the city.

“When it really gets hard, they play better,” Gaskin said after the Briarwood win. “They finally got to understand it throughout the year of what it takes to really win. At this level, there’s only good teams left, and you’ve got to play hard every possession. You can’t take anything for granted.”

While Montevallo lost to Sylacauga in the Elite Eight, the foundation set by the senior class and by Gaskin will only help them going forward, especially as they have more time to prepare and experience at the 5A level to draw from.

Now, Gaskin will have a shining example to point players to of what can happen when a team bands together, embraces an identity and works through adversity.

“I came to Montevallo late,” Gaskin said after the Elite Eight loss. “We didn’t have a summer. We will have a summer going forward, and we’ll come back and we’ll be better and we’ll be stronger for it.”

The year wasn’t short on incredible coaching performances, most notably from Calera’s George Drake, who took the Eagles from a 5-26 record in 2023-24 to a 17-13 mark as they returned to sub-regionals to face Chelsea and coach Nick Baumbaugh, who helped his team overcome losing four of its five starters to repeat as area champions, return to the Sweet 16 and go toe-to-toe with the eventual state champions Paul W. Bryant.

However, the level of adversity that Gaskin and the Bulldogs overcame to make history solidified his case as Shelby County’s top coach despite being its newest coach.