Who is the best coach ever in TN?

[Village Idiot]

Here's a few for you, if you judge not just by state titles....

 

Tommy Owen (MBA)-great teacher and pure class

 

Gerald "Momma" Johnson-basketball or football, he was one of the most intense coaches I've been around. Hard to see the good guy behind the veneer, but it's there.

 

Boots Donnelly-'nuff said.

 

Wes Elrod was no slouch at McGavock

 

Shoot me, I can't remember the name of the coach at Jeff Co in the '80's or so when they were so strong

 

Carlton Flatt is hard to argue against, given the record and his ability to surround himself with outstanding assistants.

 

John Tucker is a given for consideration, as is Louis Thompson at Lincoln County. Still active, like Thompson and Flatt, would be Gary Rankin.

 

Looking to the future, watch for the names of Ron Adyellot and Brian Rector and Tim Johnson to join this list.

 

Even as we get deeper in names, we've not even scratched the surface without leaving folks out.

 

Good thread.

 

VI

[montana]

I'm not too familiar with Flatt, however I can see with the talent recruited through the 90's that many coaches could have had his success during that time. He may be a great coach but it's difficult to determine with a program like theirs whether it's the coaches or the players?

 

I'll go with Rankin, Quarles, and whoever the coach of the Shelbyville Bedford County Training teams in the 40's. Anyone know who this was? I read they had 7 consecutive undefeated seasons and 52 consecutive shutouts.

[creeder]

There are several good coaches in West Tennessee. Ken Netherland is taking his third team to the state playoffs (Hillcrest, Germantown and now St. George's) He built a power ate Germantown for many years.

 

Paul Cox at Collierville has been there for many years and is a class act.

 

Jim Heinz at ECS has been a class act and is now poised to win the State Championship at ECS again this year.

[cbg]

Boots Donnley: What other Tennessee high school coaches have won a state championship and then transfered that success to the college game? Boots won big @ both the high school and college level.

Edited November 6, 2006 by cbg

[Lalli52]

 

I may be biased, but my vote is for the defensive coach at JB... his defense gave an average of only 4.7 points a game during the regular season... way to go Dad!

[wreckinball76]

Coach Philip Fulmer his record speaks for itself

Yea Ok. Ask BOBBY JOHNSON AT VANDY WHAT HE THINKS. LOL

[footballfan38]

Coach Benny Hammonds at Gatlinburg Pittman has been doing it for over three decades and nearing on four. He hasn't had an elusive title but for the talent level that he has, there has been great seasons and above all else he makes good players and good kids. If you have ever seen just a practice it will get you fired up about playing football. He also took time out this year to teach leadership classes to seniors. In the end, this type of thing is most important. I don't know about all the other coaches and who is the best but Coach Hammonds is good.

[jchs76]

Craig Kisabeth, Jeff. Co. is who you were asking about. Once the Collins were gone, his record really dropped.

 

I can't think of the coach at Oak Ridge during the 70's wehn they were a great power.

[jchs76]

As for Fulmer, as much as I like the Big Orange, he might not be the best college coach in E.T. Ken Sparks has won over 250 games in 26 years at C-N.

[sandman2005GC]

ken colquette hands down is the best coach in tennessee history. anyone can win at brentwood academy. they get to pretty much recrute their players. colquette has won where every he goes. what about the marion dynasty. he went to grundy a turned around that program in the matter of week and had 4 winning seasons. and won the first region title for them in the history of the school. if he was still there they compete for the region championship every year. i mean they are great coaches out there but colquette didnt have as much to work with as the other coaches.

[KWoodroof]

Here's a few for you, if you judge not just by state titles....

 

Tommy Owen (MBA)-great teacher and pure class

 

Gerald "Momma" Johnson-basketball or football, he was one of the most intense coaches I've been around. Hard to see the good guy behind the veneer, but it's there.

 

Boots Donnelly-'nuff said.

 

Wes Elrod was no slouch at McGavock

 

Shoot me, I can't remember the name of the coach at Jeff Co in the '80's or so when they were so strong

 

Carlton Flatt is hard to argue against, given the record and his ability to surround himself with outstanding assistants.

 

John Tucker is a given for consideration, as is Louis Thompson at Lincoln County. Still active, like Thompson and Flatt, would be Gary Rankin.

 

Looking to the future, watch for the names of Ron Adyellot and Brian Rector and Tim Johnson to join this list.

 

Even as we get deeper in names, we've not even scratched the surface without leaving folks out.

 

Good thread.

 

VI

I'm glad to see Tommy Owen mentioned here. From MBA, Howard Allen could be mentioned, and in a few years, it may be appropriate to put Ricky Bowers on this list.

 

I'm not familiar with Elrod at McGavock, but his mid-'70's teams at Maplewood were fearsome.

 

Nick Coutras at Overton certainly deserves to be mentioned as well.

[crimsontide43]

David Shepard