At Vance High, assistant football ‘Coach AC’ doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer
As a girl growing up just outside Miami, Alicia Cunningham played basketball, kickball and soccer. She loved sports. And she always wanted to play football.
Her dad just wouldn’t let her.
She didn’t know that, years later, she would get the chance to coach it.
Cunningham, 31, is in her first year as an assistant coach at Vance High School. She’ll be on the sidelines next Saturday when the Cougars play Raleigh Leesville Road for a state championship in Chapel Hill.
“I just love sports in general,” said Cunningham, whom everyone just calls ‘Coach AC.’ “But with football, there’s just so much of a thrill behind it, and I never thought it was a possibility that I could get involved and coach, but when it was brought to my attention that I could have a chance, I was thrilled. I love it. It’s not easy. I think I see my coaches’ family here more than I see my own family at home. But it’s been a rewarding season. We’re in the Final Four.”
Cunningham moved to Charlotte four years ago and is a sales rep with a national sporting goods company. That job put her in contact with lots of high school coaches in the area. She impressed some coaches at Vance with her knowledge. They started talking.
In March, Cunningham was offered and accepted a position coaching the Cougars’ running backs.
“In the beginning,” she said, “it was ‘Who’s wife is that?’ Or ‘Who’s mom is that?’ And coach would say ‘She’s going to be a coach,’ and they were like ‘Whaaat?’ But now, we’re like a huge family.”
Women coaching major men’s sports is a rarity in North Carolina. In 2015, Angela Lambson became the first female head football coach in the state when she took the junior varsity job at Winston-Salem Prep. This year, Laura Berry is the head coach for the boys and girls varsity teams at Watauga High in Boone.
At Vance, Cunningham is believed to be the only female coaching high school football in the area.
“It was very surprising at first,” said Vance freshman running back Daylan Smothers. “It was just different, but she definitely knows what she’s talking about. People had a lot of questions and concerns, and there were a lot of doubters, like ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Girls don’t know football.’ But when I was confused on certain things, she would always step in and tell me. She knew what I needed to do. Always.”
Vance coach Glenwood Ferebee said he’s seen some guys on social media try to quiz Cunningham about her football knowledge, but said that’s a pointless exercise.
“She’s pretty good,” he said. “She’s still learning the game and the thing is, she wants to learn. You get guys, you get men who think they know everything and don’t want to learn anything, but she is soaking up as much as she can. The boys love her like a mom.”
Still, Coach AC has to fight perceptions.
She gets stopped a lot trying to get into games. No one believes she is a coach. She gets the questions on Twitter. But she plans to keep going.
She said she loves the game too much.
“I didn’t expect to be welcomed,” she said. “But I’ve been welcomed by this team with open arms. I don’t want to say I’m a (trailblazer). I know a lot of people put me here. One day, I’d like to work in the NFL or at least in college. A position coach on a college team would be a dream.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 5:48 PM with the headline "At Vance High, assistant football ‘Coach AC’ doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer."
