Hardin Valley Academy football coach Jeff Miner resigns to help his 'long-term health'

Football coach Jeff Miner has nothing but positive things to say about Hardin Valley Academy.

The fondness Miner, 46, has for the community is why resigning Wednesday after two seasons was a difficult decision. He said his reason for stepping away was “in the interest of my long-term health and well-being.”

“Everybody in Hardin Valley has been great,” Miner said. "The players have been awesome, the people, the parents, the administration, the faculty and staff, everybody out there has been just great to work with, and has been super helpful and has made me feel at home.

“I just felt like this was a decision I needed to make."

Miner will remain a teacher at the high school and is unsure of what is next for him.

When asked if leaving was an effort to benefit his physical and/or mental health, he said that he is “okay” and that resigning would help his “overall" well-being.

“I’m definitely getting older and I am, you know, there are just some things that I need to do a better job taking care of,” Miner said.

Miner went 4-16 at Hardin Valley after previously being the defensive coordinator at Oak Ridge under former coach Joe Gaddis at Oak Ridge. He was an assistant at Oak Ridge for nine years.

"We want to thank coach Miner for his commitment to Hardin Valley Academy and the football program the past two years," Hardin Valley football’s social media account post stated. "We appreciate the positive impact he's had on our players and program. We wish him the best for the future and look forward to the next chapter for HVA football."

When asked what he learned in his first stop as a coach, he said he’ll need more time to reflect to understand everything he learned. He did say that being a head coach compared to being an assistant is a “completely different job” because of the other responsibilities that span outside of gameday.

In the 2023 season, Hardin Valley finished 3-7 after starting the year winning its first three games. It was 0-5 in Region 2-6A.

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“If there's a tougher region around I don't know what it is,” Miner said. "We play in a really tough region and our schedule was backloaded with those region games … those games didn't go the way we wanted it."

The Hawks have not appeared in the Class 6A postseason since 2018. The furthest, they have gone in the playoffs was to the quarterfinals in 2016.

Miner replaced Mike Potter, who resigned after having seven wins in three seasons. The last time the program had a record above .500 was in 2018 when it went 6-5.

Toyloy Brown III is a Knox News sports reporter. Email toyloy.brown@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly Twitter, @TJ3rd_.