From what I've heard he resigned from coaching due to wanting to devote more time to his children, these girls need someone who can devote time to the program.
Lynn from Central, Thomas and Johnson (Heritage) Walsh (Bearden) Troutt and Shields (Alcoa) Coulter (Maryville) Fulton has a great shooter but don't know her name.
Maybe some of the girls on the team are acting thrilled because they didn't want to upset the coach, if they had voted not to let Hooper returned it would have made them look like they weren't team players. They probably knew if they upset the coach they would never get any playing time.
Didn't realize Melton was hurt, so her play earlier in the season and was impressed with how she ran the court and distributed the ball, very much a team player.
I think it would be hard for Coach Johnson to leave Alcoa even to go coach at her old high school, teachers salary at Alcoa is one of the highest in the area. Also why give up a head coaching position to be an assistant.
From this list I think Webb and CAK are the only teams that have a chance in going to state, not sure if Webb would make it to state if playing in Div. 1.