Hoover High School is a public high school in Hoover, Alabama, USA, serving grades 9-12. It was built as a replacement for W. A. Berry High School . It is currently one of the two International Baccalaureate schools in the Greater Birmingham Area. It is divided into the Freshmen Center and the Senior Campus as of September 2007. Outside of Alabama, Hoover High School is best known as the school featured in the MTV show Two-A-Days.
Academics
Hoover High was home to ten National Merit Semi-Finalists in 2006, and fifteen in 2007. Hoover High had 57 seniors who have scored a 30 or higher on the ACT, not including the October 27, 2007 test date. In addition to its International Baccalaureate program and strong pre-college curriculum, Hoover High features five specialized academies in engineering, law, finance, information technology, and health science. The academies offer a specialized set of electives to complement the precollege curriculum and to prepare students for collegiate work in the selected fields. The Engineering Academy competes in the BEST Robotics competition every year, and recently have moved on to the Regional competition, South's BEST, held in Auburn on December 7 and 8. Hoover High also fields highly successful Math and Academic Quiz Bowl Teams.
Athletics
Hoover High School plays in the Class 6A of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), and are known as the Buccaneers or more commonly, the Bucs. Hoover, the third-largest school in Alabama (by student population) and largest by square footage, has won over 40 state championships in 20 sports in the last 10 years. Overall, Hoover has made an appearance in 22 state championship playoffs.
The Bucs won the 2008 Class 6A baseball championship, defeating nationally-ranked Opelika in two games after losing the first game in nine innings in the best-of-three series. The title was Hoover's first state championship in 27 years; the last was when the school was still known as W.A. Berry High.
Coach Devon Hind has also led the Hoover High School track and cross country teams to multiple state champions, and were runner up many times for both the boys' and girls' teams.
Football
The Hoover football team has been nationally ranked a number of times and has won the state championship six times since 2000, including four in a row (2002-2005) under the direction of former head coach Rush Propst. Before the start of the 2006 season, Hoover was ranked #1 in the nation by USA Today and Sports Illustrated , a ranking it maintained until being defeated 28-14 by #6 ranked John Curtis of River Ridge, Louisiana on ESPNU High School Showcase September 29. The team won four consecutive state championships from 2002-2005, and just missed winning 7 straight after losses in the championship game to Daphne in 2001 and Prattville in 2006. Hoover defeated Prattville to win the title in 2009. The Bucs finished the season ranked in the national top-25 polls in 2003 (#16), 2004 (#4), 2005 (#8) and 2009 (#7).
The 2005 football team is featured on the MTV show Two-A-Days. Season two for the Two-A-Days show, showcasing the 2006 football team, was filmed at the school as well and began its run in late January 2007.
Theatre
Hoover High School's drama program was started by Sandra L. Taylor, who retired in 2005. The school's on-campus theater is named in her honor. The program is now headed by Nancy Malone, Hoover competes annually at Alabama's Walter J. Trumbauer Drama Festival. In 2006 the one-act play "World Without Memory", directed by Chris Strickland, was named the runner-up in state competition and was given a special invitation to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Band
The Hoover High School Band program has had a long history of success since its inception. The marching band routinely get straight superior ratings at marching competitions and several "Best in Class" awards. For concert band, the group is divided up into three groups:Symphonic, Concert, and Freshman. The freshman band is made up of only freshmen, due to the them being in their own campus. The upperclassmen try out, and are put into either symphonic, or concert band, depending on their skill level. All three bands get routinely get superior ratings at district and state contests. The band makes 1 trip every year. Past trips have included:
•1996-Orange Bowl Parade
•1997-Fiesta Bowl Parade
•1998-Easter Music Festival in Maastricht, Netherlands
•1999-Williamsburg Music Festival
•2000-Hollywood Christmas Parade
•2001-75th Anniversary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
•2003-All Star Music Festival in Orlando, Florida
•2004-Edinburgh Easter Festival
•2005-Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico
•2006-Pasadena Tournament of the Roses Parade
•2007-Parade down Main Street, Magic Kingdom, Disney World
•2008-Fiesta Bowl Parade and Fiesta Bowl Field Show of the Champions
•2009-Flambeau Parade of Lights in San Antonio, Texas
•2010-(Upcoming) Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington D.C.
The school also yields successful jazz bands. The First Edition Jazz Band has performed for Governor Bob Riley.
The band is currently under the direction of:
•Harry Macafee-Band Director
•Dennis Carroll-Assistant band director
•Sallie White-Assistant band director
•Jeff Fondren-Percussion director and drum line instructor
Controversy
See also: Rush PropstHoover High School became embroiled in controversy in the summer of 2007 over allegations that grades for certain athletes were changed to make them eligible for college sports under National Collegiate Athletic Association regulations. The charges center around players on the football team. Rush Propst, the Bucs' head coach (who was the target of charges about indiscretions in his personal life), denied any wrongdoing, as did then-principal Richard Bishop. Hoover Superintendent Andy Craig appointed retired federal prosecutor Sam Pointer to investigate the charges. The report was released on October 12, 2007, and found that grades had been changed for two athletes, along with various other issues. (The report can be seen on the school website.)
On July 25, 2007, the Hoover School Board voted to not renew Bishop's contract after one year of service. The action was based largely on a less-than-satisfactory performance assessment by a former assistant superintendent. Dr. Ken Jarnagin was named the interim principal; he started the previous month as the school system's chief academic officer.
Hoover High School again came under public scrutiny in October 2007 after reports that a player, Tristan Purifoy, failed to properly transfer from Hanceville High School. The AHSAA investigation resulted in the forfeiture of all games in which Purifoy played, reducing the team record from 6-1 to 2-5 at the time. The Bucs still qualified for the post-season playoffs, however.
The state director of K-12 accreditation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced his concern with the leadership at Hoover High. SACS asked for and received an outline of the changes necessary to fix the problems in order for the school to retain its accreditation.
On October 30, 2007, Propst announced his resignation before a special called meeting of the Hoover Board of Education. Propst continued to serve as head coach for as long as the team survived in the 2007 playoffs, and was then transferred to an administrative position through August 31, 2008, after which he was to leave the Hoover system. Propst actually left before that, however, when he accepted the head coaching position at Colquitt County High School in Georgia.
On December 20, 2007, Josh Niblett, the former head coach at Oxford High School, was hired to replace Propst. (In January 2008, Niblett was replaced at Oxford by John Grass, who coached Hoover's cross-town rival Spain Park High School to the 2007 state championship game and was formerly offensive coordinator at Hoover under Propst.)
The Hoover High School football team recently defeated Prattville High School 28-23 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to win its 6th AHSAA state championship this decade.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni from W. A. Berry High School include:
- Steve Lowery, PGA Tour golfer
- Murry Bartow, basketball coach at East Tennessee State University and formerly at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Jeff Brantley, baseball pitcher, former ESPN baseball analyst, current Cincinnati Reds analyst
- Heather Whitestone, 1995 Miss America
- Stan White, Auburn University quarterback
- Mike Kolen, Miami Dolphins linebacker
- Robert DuPriest, University of Georgia linebacker
Notable alumni from Hoover High School include:
- Taylor Hicks, 2006 American Idol winner
- Chad Jackson, Denver Broncos wide receiver
- John Parker Wilson, football player and former quarterback at the University of Alabama now playing for the Atlanta Falcons
- Ross Wilson, Alex Binder, Dwarn "Repete" Smith, Cornelius Williams, Kristin Boyle, Mark McCarty, Charlie Zorn, Brandon and Byron Clear, Michael DeJohn, Kristen Padalino, Brittany Benton and Max Lerner, featured on MTV's Two-A-Days.
- Sidney Spencer, Forward for the 2006-07 NCAA champion Lady Volunteers of the University of Tennessee, drafted in t
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