Alvin Sanders takes the helm for Morristown West football

Troy Provost-Heron, KNS-sports@knoxnews.com

Following the departure of Lamar Brown, who left Morristown West High School on Jan. 17 to become the new head football coach at West, Alvin Sanders was tagged with the title of interim coach.

Sanders did his part to keep the program on track, but in the back of his mind he knew there was a chance that this would not become a permanent gig.

That thought no longer lingers. On Friday, Sanders removed that interim tag and became the full-time coach of the Trojans, the sixth in program history.

“It’s one of those things that when you have the interim tag, you’re hoping that you have the job and you’re trying to get some stuff done with the kids as far as implementing your vision and different things like that,” Sanders said, “but you don’t really know, so you don’t want to commit whole-heartedly to it and it doesn’t go your way.

“Now to have that tag removed and be the head coach, it’s overwhelming. The support has been incredible, not only from the kids, but from the faculty staff and the administration. I’m just ready to get down to business and work on building our brand and our program.”

Sanders played four seasons as a wide receiver for Carson-Newman from 2000-03, hauling in 1,492 career receiving yards, the eighth-most in school history. He also has the record for longest reception in Eagles’ history, a 98-yard pass from Leonard Guyton against Western Oregon in 2002.

Following his playing career, Sanders remained at Carson-Newman for two seasons as a graduate assistant with the wide receivers while earning his Master's degree in business education. Upon graduating, he returned to his alma mater, Washington County High School, in Sandersville, Ga., where he coached quarterbacks and coached track for one year before joining the Morristown West staff.

Sanders’ arrival at Morristown West occurred a year before Brown took over as coach in 2008. Over the course of those eight seasons, the Trojans went 56-24, winning three region titles while also advancing in the playoffs seven of the eight years — they made it to the Class 5A quarterfinals three times over the past five seasons.

Before being named interim coach, Sanders acted as wide receivers coach and assistant head coach under Brown, learning the necessities of leading a program. Now the only thing left to do is implement that knowledge in an effort to maintain the Trojans’ high level of success.

“In terms of our standards, we won’t change anything,” Sanders said. “We still expect to be one of the top programs in the state and compete at a very high level. We expect our kids to put forth the best effort on and off the field, and that’s not going to change.

“We would like to be a little bit more successful in doing that and being a little more disciplined in all of the little things so that we can achieve all the goals we have out there and be ready to respond to any situation that comes our way.” 

Alvin Sanders