Best High School Football Coaches in State History

[KWoodroof]

Tommy Owen.....Bob Cummings.....Ricky Bower.....123!

Bob Cummings! There's a name from the past. There were some truly top flight coaches in Nashville at that time: Nick Coutras, Warren Dunn, Garland Russell, Herschel Moore, Wes Elrod....

Edited April 17, 2011 by KWoodroof

[BBest]

Ralph Spangler graduated with honors from BGA, went to Alabama, played for 'Bear' Bryant and winning a National Championship at 5'8 170 lbs starting at offensive guard. The man has never smoked, drank or cussed one day of his life but was one of the hardest men to play for. A disciplinarian and perfectionist. This man is the finest example of the word Gentleman that ever lived. Inducted into the TN Coaches Hall of Fame.

 

The scoop...From 1951-1969, CCCHS's precursor school, Ashland City High School, was coached by Ralph Spangler. For 15 of those 19 years, Coach Spangler was the the school's only coach, with no assistants on the gridiron. It was not until 1966 that Coach Mike Jarreau, for whom the current football field is named, became Coach Spangler's first and only assistant coach.

 

During Coach Spangler's tenure as head football coach, he accomplished the following:

Overall record of 115 wins, with just 45 losses and 3 ties

7 Combined Conference Championships (Lower Cumberland Valley & Little Seven Conferences)

6 Bowl Teams (Includes "Civic, Blanket, Civitan, Lions, Booster, & Dickson Bowls")

3 Undefeated Seasons (1956, 1958, 1968)

 

Due to the untimely death of the school's principal, Coach Ralph Spangler resigned at the end of the 1969 season and took over as the Athletic Director and head of the boys P.E. Department. The only high school in the county moved from downtown Ashland City following the spring of 1970, and in the fall of 1970, a few short miles down US-12, the doors to Cheatham County Central High School opened.

 

Spangler was also the head baseball coach, Head girls basketball coach (Coaching Pat Head Summit) and took care of all the fields

 

Another Legend would be Calvin Short of Gallatin, The Ole' "Green Wave"

 

Probably one of the most recognizable names in Middle Tennessee with regards to football. Short was the head football coach at Gallatin High School for eighteen seasons from 1976 to 1993 during which he earned three state championships and three runner-up titles for the Green Wave.The first championship came in 1978 and began the domination of Gallatin through the 1980s. Gallatin went on to collect state titles in 1989 and 1992. Runner-up titles came in 1982, 1987 and 1991. The G Factor, a term coined during his time as the Gallatin High School head coach is synonymous with Coach Short.

 

Quick note: Coach Short was probably the first in TN to master the art of (at the time) legal recruiting prompting the TSSAA to revamp the rules after many tried to follow his lead (Can you guess who?). Nonetheless, the man was a genious in many ways and brought Big Time football to a small town. A true legend.

 

Ask anyone that has played or was associated with either of these men and the response is overwhelming, "We would do ANYTHING for our coach".

 

I know this is under the DII section but Rankin was mentioned.

 

IMO, you can't really decide one's excellence based on their ablity to win with a 'loaded' team but one's ablity to win with whatever players he is dealt. That takes a real coach. Can you name some of those. The guys that won games in "One horse towns" with players zoned to them only?

 

Spangler was one.

Edited April 17, 2011 by BBest

[Gambler]

Glenn McCadams should be up at the top of the list. Lipscomb football was a joke before he took over in 1982 and truly built the program including the stadium and field with his own hands. Here is his resume: Coached at Milan High school in West Tennesse for another legendary coach and coached in 4 state championship games as the defensive coordinator. He won the 3A state championship in 2007 and the 2A state championship in 1994 and 2002. He was the state runner up in 2003, 1998, 2005, and 2006. Undefeated Region Championships 1994, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. 20 State Playoff appearances. Also did all this with only 5 D-1 Signees. True definition of class. 29 years at one school.

[DirectorP]

James "Boots" Donnelly

Louis Catignani

 

Tommy Owen

 

Kurt Page

 

Danny Francescon

 

Maurice Fitzgerald

Edited April 18, 2011 by DirectorP

[oblong]

James "Boots" Donnelly

Louis Catignani

 

Tommy Owen

 

Kurt Page

 

Danny Francescon

 

Maurice Fitzgerald

I'm sure I'll catch crap from this comment, but it is astonishing that Carlton Flatt's name has barely been mentioned. 35 years as coach, went to the state finals 24 times. Only 11 seasons BA failed to make the finals! A coaching tree that includes Bowers, Pack, and Brothers, not to mention Kent Austin (Cornell/Ole Miss) and Mike McIntyre (San Jose St). Even Tommy Owen coached with Coach Flatt for a few years at BA! Pretty hard to top that sort of legacy.

[BuckLateral]

I'm sure I'll catch crap from this comment, but it is astonishing that Carlton Flatt's name has barely been mentioned. 35 years as coach, went to the state finals 24 times. Only 11 seasons BA failed to make the finals! A coaching tree that includes Bowers, Pack, and Brothers, not to mention Kent Austin (Cornell/Ole Miss) and Mike McIntyre (San Jose St). Even Tommy Owen coached with Coach Flatt for a few years at BA! Pretty hard to top that sort of legacy.

 

So far, except for the Maryville reference, this looks pretty much like a list of the Best High School Football Coaches In Mid-State History. Any list of best coaches in "State" history would have to include legendary Chattanooga Central Coach E. B. "Red" Etter-----otherwise, it is not going to be worth the ink it takes to print it.

[howdoitknow]

Ralph Spangler graduated with honors from BGA, went to Alabama, played for 'Bear' Bryant and winning a National Championship at 5'8 170 lbs starting at offensive guard. The man has never smoked, drank or cussed one day of his life but was one of the hardest men to play for. A disciplinarian and perfectionist. This man is the finest example of the word Gentleman that ever lived. Inducted into the TN Coaches Hall of Fame.

 

The scoop...From 1951-1969, CCCHS's precursor school, Ashland City High School, was coached by Ralph Spangler. For 15 of those 19 years, Coach Spangler was the the school's only coach, with no assistants on the gridiron. It was not until 1966 that Coach Mike Jarreau, for whom the current football field is named, became Coach Spangler's first and only assistant coach.

 

During Coach Spangler's tenure as head football coach, he accomplished the following:

Overall record of 115 wins, with just 45 losses and 3 ties

7 Combined Conference Championships (Lower Cumberland Valley & Little Seven Conferences)

6 Bowl Teams (Includes "Civic, Blanket, Civitan, Lions, Booster, & Dickson Bowls")

3 Undefeated Seasons (1956, 1958, 1968)

 

Due to the untimely death of the school's principal, Coach Ralph Spangler resigned at the end of the 1969 season and took over as the Athletic Director and head of the boys P.E. Department. The only high school in the county moved from downtown Ashland City following the spring of 1970, and in the fall of 1970, a few short miles down US-12, the doors to Cheatham County Central High School opened.

 

Spangler was also the head baseball coach, Head girls basketball coach (Coaching Pat Head Summit) and took care of all the fields

 

Spangler was one.

 

 

I'll agree 100% on Coach Spangler being among the best!

[big red big blue]

Another Legend would be Calvin Short of Gallatin, The Ole' "Green Wave"

 

Probably one of the most recognizable names in Middle Tennessee with regards to football. Short was the head football coach at Gallatin High School for eighteen seasons from 1976 to 1993 during which he earned three state championships and three runner-up titles for the Green Wave.The first championship came in 1978 and began the domination of Gallatin through the 1980s. Gallatin went on to collect state titles in 1989 and 1992. Runner-up titles came in 1982, 1987 and 1991. The G Factor, a term coined during his time as the Gallatin High School head coach is synonymous with Coach Short.

 

Quick note: Coach Short was probably the first in TN to master the art of (at the time) legal recruiting prompting the TSSAA to revamp the rules after many tried to follow his lead (Can you guess who?). Nonetheless, the man was a genious in many ways and brought Big Time football to a small town. A true legend.

 

 

You are right...he was a good one. In the old 3A days, the glory days of TN High school football, he lost 1 game from '91-'92, the '91 Clinic Bowl to Oak Ridge. Went undefeated wire-to-wire in '92 3A, a LOADED year in Tennessee. Guess we can take some pride in the fact that the only year from '89 - '92 he DIDN'T make the clinic bowl was '90 when he lost 6-3 at home to the Big Red in R2.

[devilsden]

Don't know Coach Spangler but I do know this...he didn't play for Bear Bryant at Alabama cause Bryant didn't get their until 1958 and you can look that up on the Alabama website!

[BBest]

"Don't know Coach Spangler but I do know this...he didn't play for Bear Bryant at Alabama cause Bryant didn't get their until 1958 and you can look that up on the Alabama website"!

 

I stand corrected. He played in 1945 for the Undefeated Rose Bowl team, LATER becoming friends with the "Bear". I am sorry if I offended you. google- Corrected Supplement.qxp spangler

Edited April 22, 2011 by BBest

[STARSNBARS]

Based on looking at some of the newspapers from that era, it may have been driven by some sort of ratings system (Litratings). I have a copy from the Banner of the last week of the 1972 regular season, and it appears the playoff participants largely followed the hierarchy of the Litratings shown in that issue of the paper.

rollredroll there was a playoff points system that determined the partipants for the playoffs back then before districting....

[REBELRON]

Another big time legend is Bert Chig Ratlidge of Loudon. He led Loudon to state titles in 1974 and 1975. His teams were disciplined and fundementally sound.