MADISON- The accolades continue to pour in for James Clemens head track coach Drew Bell as he’s been named the 2019 South United States Section 3 Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. He is now one of eight finalists for the 2019 National Coach of the Year to be named by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

“I am really blown away that the United States Track & Field Committee would take notice of what is going on with our program here at James Clemens and my life time work with track and field the past 31 years,” said Bell who has been the head coach at James Clemens Jets since the school opened in 2012.

Bell’s girls squad won the school’s first AHSAA Class 7A State Championship last spring and he was named the Coach of the Year by the AHSAA. He was then named the Girls Coach of the Year for Alabama by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Now just after the New Year began, Bell again has been recognized as the South’s top coach so named in Section 3 and is among the top eight Track and Field Coaches in the United States in the running for 2019 National Coach of the Year. From the eight geographical sections one coach will be selected as National Track & Field Coach of the Year by the NFHS.

Bell has stated numerous times he knows the James Clemens program has the best assistant coaches and track student-athletes anywhere in the country. He said he felt good knowing the national committee is recognizing the hard work of everyone involved in the program.

“There is no other school or school district I would rather serve and we all have worked so hard to build this program from scratch the past eight years,” added Bell. “It’s a great day to be a Jet.”