Chattanooga Christian School announced that Coach Eddie Salter is returning to the men’s basketball program as the Varsity Head Coach for 2016-2017. He will be joined by Chattanooga Christian alumnus, Ben Wharton, who has been named the Varsity Head Coach of the men’s baseball program and the Junior Varsity Men’s Basketball Coach.
Former Varsity Head Basketball Coach David Conrady has accepted a position at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Dallas, TX, and former Varsity Head Baseball Coach, Joel Johnson, is moving with his family to Lakeland, Florida.
Coach Salter led the men’s basketball team to three state tournament appearances and the 2001 A State Championship, amassing a record of 264-126 as the head coach from 1995 to 2007.
In the 1998-99 school year he was named AF Bridges Male Coach of the Year. Under his tutelage, two CCS players were named “Mr. Basketball” for the state of Tennessee. The CCS community just celebrated Coach Salter’s 30th year as a member of the CCS community and the elementary PE instructor. In his honor, the elementary gym was named the Eddie Salter Gymnasium. He and his wife, Mari, a Librarian at Lookout Valley High School, have two children, Caleb and Melina, both graduates of CCS. Coach Salter and his family are members of New City Fellowship. .
Coach Salter commented, “I am excited to see what God has in store for me after being away for a number of years. I am looking forward to serving Christ through the game of basketball.”
Coach Wharton was a member of the 2001 State Champion basketball team and a standout pitcher his senior year, completing the regular season with a 14-0 record and a 0.63 E.R.A. A 2003 graduate of CCS where he received TSSAA all state baseball honors in 2003 following two consecutive trips to the state tournament, Wharton continued his baseball career at Bryan College under Coach Joel Johnson, where he earned all-region honors as an outfielder, led the NAIA in stolen bases in 2006, and earned a Gold Glove in 2007.
Following graduation from Bryan College, Wharton played two years of independent minor league baseball for the Bay Area Toros in 2007 and the Reno Silver Sox in 2008. Wharton then joined the coaching ranks as the assistant head coach at Covenant College, where he also served as the intramural director (2010-2013) and director of athletic marketing (2013-2016). Wharton also completed his Master's degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University in 2013 and taught as an adjunct professor at Covenant in the physical and sport education department.
Coach Wharton and his wife, Stephanie, have two boys, Zeke, who will be in kindergarten at CCS starting this fall, and three-year-old Josiah. They attend Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church where Wharton currently serves as a deacon.
Wharton stated upon accepting the reins of the baseball program, “I am honored to follow two of my mentors, John Visser and Joel Johnson, as the head baseball coach at Chattanooga Christian. One of the most exciting aspects for me is the opportunity to mentor and disciple young men and help them develop spiritually, academically, and athletically. I have been blessed to coach under Doug Simons for the past eight years at Covenant College and have learned what it looks like to pursue excellence on the field as an act of worship, which is something I will take with me to CCS. As an alumnus, there is a sense of coming home, and I am eager to keep building upon the tradition of excellence at CCS.”