Former Stillman football coaches find news homes in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Three members of the Stillman College football staff have moved on to coach in Birmingham. Former Stillman head coach Teddy Keaton and assistant James Johnson have landed at Miles College, and offensive line coach John Causey has taken the same position at Birmingham-Southern.

Stillman announced last December that it is discontinuing the football program and also dropping all sports but men’s and women’s basketball after this spring. Coaches and players have been looking for new schools to continue their careers.

“When Stillman shut their football program down, I still wanted to remain on the college level,” Causey said. “Coaching, there’s not a lot of stability in that anyway but you want to leave a place on your own. My initial (reaction) was I was hurt for the players, not just in football but in all sports. You hate to see any program shut its athletics down.”

For Keaton, the move to Miles keeps him in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, where Stillman competed as an NCAA Division II program. It also keeps him at home, as he is able to commute to his job in Birmingham. He is associate head coach and coaches running backs.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Keaton said. “It’s an easy transition for me. It gave me the opportunity not to uproot my family.”

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