A true girl dad: Central's Demario Pippen welcomes third daughter ahead of 2024 season

This season won't be Demario Pippen 's first leading Central on the gridiron, but there will be a first for Pippen — his first as a girl-dad of three, that is.

Pippen and his wife, Courtney, welcomed daughter Demia over the summer, born on June 18. The pair also share daughters Cari, 11, and Amari, 7.

Demario and Courtney have been married for seven years, but actually met 17 years ago at Central when Demario was a member of the 2007 state championship football team. Courtney, who was then Courtney Rainey, first met Demario during her freshman year, but said she knew of him since she was in the sixth grade.

"I knew of Mario since middle school," Courtney told The Tuscaloosa News. "Even back then, the younger kids knew his name. I don't know how, but we just knew Demario Pippen. We met when I was in the ninth grade and he was in 11th. He said he saw me at track practice and told his coach that I was going to be his girlfriend. And that was 17 years ago."

On Friday nights, Courtney makes sure to always be in attendance for Central's games with daughters in tow, typically trying to coordinate the girls outfits to be some variation of the Falcons' red. This Friday night, when the Falcons travel to Tuscaloosa County to kickoff the 2024 season, Demia will be in attendance — with earmuffs of course — along with her mom and big sisters, making her debut at Falcon Stadium to watch her dad on the sideline.

"That's one of my biggest inspirations when we are playing," Demario said. "Regardless of what's going on, you can be losing, you can be having a bad game, the team can just look terrible. But I always know in my mind, if I can look up there and see my wife, it lets me know I'm all good. Because I know if there's one person, regardless of what's going on, she's with me."

Watching their dad do his thing, Courtney said, is something their girls love doing.

"They love it," she said. "He's such a good husband and a good father."

Pippen is entering his second season with the Falcons, leading them to a 5-5 mark last season, the program's first time finishing at or above .500 since the 2015 season. Heading into this season, Pippen said he is feeling great.

"I think the biggest adjustment as a program for us, first as players, their mentality," he said. "It's more like they're expecting to win now, versus last year we were hoping to win. We are actually expecting to win now ... That's the biggest thing right there, mentality."

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As far as a coaching standpoint, Pippen said he spent a lot of his offseason studying, specifically studying defenses.

"I did a lot more studying on the offseason, went a lot more in depth on things that I can change, things that I can correct," he said. "I just wanted to get better from a scheme perspective as a coach, too. That was my biggest focus this offseason."

The Falcons lose 18 seniors from their 2023 roster, including quarterback David McNeil, but returns a well-balanced unit this season. When it comes to returners, Nick Witherspoon, an offensive and defensive lineman, is one that Pippen is expecting "to have a very impactful year," along with Jasiuah Rainer (DB), Braylond Smith (DB) and Trayvon Hall (WR), who Pippen described as being a "special talent."

Another is defensive lineman Jackson Carlisle, who is entering his first season at Central, along with quarterback Armani White. White, a sophomore, is entering his first season playing football, but has varsity baseball experience, starting at shortstop for the Falcons' baseball team since seventh grade.

"Armani White, that's a kid a lot of people don't know about, but they're going to find out soon," Pippen said. "He doesn't have the experience in football, but he's a lot more poised than a normal sophomore because of all that play he did in baseball."

The Falcons barely missed out on a playoff bid last season, finishing in fifth place in 6A, Region 4. Heading into this season, Pippen said he feels a playoff berth is well within reach.

"We definitely have our eyes set on playoffs," Pippen said. "I feel like we are more than capable. The key thing is staying focused and staying healthy. I feel like if we can remain healthy, we can make a lot of noise in this region. Especially with Hillcrest (moving up to Class 7A), they kind of dominated this region the last three-four years, and now that they're out, somebody has to take over now. Why not us?"

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: A true girl dad: Central's Demario Pippen welcomes third daughter ahead of 2024 season