HUNTSVILLE — Less than a week after kicking off their first-ever high school football season, the Alpha Omega Academy Lions made a coaching change.

On Wednesday, the AOA Board of Trustees fired head football coach Craig Hooper, citing safety reasons for asking Hooper to step down from his part-time post.

Former Huntsville High School head football coach and athletic director Mitchell Coey will take over the program for the rest of this season, according to AOA headmaster Paul Davidhizar.

“There were some issues with safety. That was the main thing,” Davidhizar said Wednesday afternoon. “There were also some football skills that were being taught and some that were not being taught properly.

“This was not anticipated, it was pretty abrupt,” added Davidhizar.

Hooper, who started the Lions program last fall with a junior high team that played six-man football, believes there were other factors that led to his dismissal.

“We taught the proper techniques. We never put the kids in harm’s way,” said Hooper, who led the junior high Lions to a 6-2 record last year. “It wasn’t about safety, it wasn’t about that at all.

“How do you go from being the best coach in the world to the worst one around in one year? I wasn’t given an opportunity to make that program successful. Had they given me three to four years, we would have been very successful.”

This year, Alpha Omega Academy made a huge leap to 11-man varsity football at the high school level. Last Friday the Lions launched their 2010 campaign with a 67-0 loss to Somerville.

Hooper said none of the Lions were injured against the bigger and stronger Yeguas. But because football is physical, and oftentimes rough, injuries cannot be avoided.

“Football is football. You’re going to come up against bigger teams, especially when you’re just starting a program,” Hooper said. “We knew we were going to take our licks, but we didn’t get anyone injured against Somerville and that was probably the biggest team we’re going to play this year.

“They were wanting me to cancel some of our games, but you can’t do that. You can’t call people up and cancel games after making a two-year commitment.”

The Lions have canceled their game this week at Milano. Alpha Omega will resume its 2010 schedule on Sept. 11 against Anderson-Shiro at Bowers Stadium in Huntsville.

“We canceled the game this Friday so we could have time to regroup and prepare the boys for their game next weekend,” Davidhizar said.

Coey, who rebuilt Huntsville’s football program, leading the Hornets to two straight district championships and back-to-back trips to the Class 4A state playoffs, knows it’s going to take time to turn the Lions into consistent winners at the high school level. He likes what he’s seen, though, during a month or so of practices from a small group of youngsters hungry to learn how to play football.

“Those kids (at Alpha Omega) are energetic, they’re gung-ho and they’re working hard,” Coey said Wednesday evening. “They survived Somerville, but Trinity’s pretty good and Iola will be pretty decent. Once we get to district, the playing field will get a lot more level.

“I recruited some other coaches (Trevor Fountain and Damon Coburn) to come out and help. I think it’s a great thing they’re doing out there, starting an 11-man football program. But it’s going to be tough early on. The kids are real responsive to learning. Once we get to district, I think we’ll have a chance, if we can get there healthy.”

Davidhizar said he hoped the Lions could get through their first season of high school football without making such a drastic move. But the board voted to replace Hooper and let Coey take over for the rest of this season.

“Coach Hooper’s a great guy and the kids loved him,” Davidhizar said. “He was not intentionally doing anything bad or anything wrong. It was more that some of the coaches who are working with him, who really know football, were concerned about technique and the lack of technique. Maybe things were not being taught properly.

“The main reason (for making a change) was the welfare of the boys,” Davidhizar repeated. “When we moved up from six-man to 11-man some things became evident that weren’t evident before. It took us a few weeks to see what was going on. We are very appreciative of everything coach Hooper did. He spent a lot of time and resources and helped us get our football program started.

“I hate to say that this was meant to be, but in some sense it was meant to be.”