Memphis East football coach Marcus Wimberly leaving alma mater for Cordova

[kwc]

Memphis East football coach Marcus Wimberly leaving alma mater for Cordova

John Varlas, USA TODAY NETWORK – TennesseePublished 6:15 p.m. CT Jan. 12, 2018

     

(Photo: Nikki Boertman)

 

After 12 season at his alma mater, Marcus Wimberly is leaving East High's football program.

On Friday, the Cordova High Twitter feed announced that Wimberly is taking over the Wolves' vacant coaching job. Cordova has been looking for a coach since last month, when Anthony Jones left to join Mike Norvell's staff at the University of Memphis.

"Excited to announce that after a thorough and difficult process, coach Marcus Wimberly will be our next coach," the school Tweeted. "He brings head coach(ing) experience, a state championship and most importantly a record of building character and doing things the right way."

Wimberly lead East to a 13-2 record in 2016, winning the school's second state championship with a 27-3 victory over Knoxville Central in the BlueCross Bowl Class 4A title game. The Mustangs finished 5-6 in 2017 and lost to Dyersburg Central in the first round of the playoffs.

Overall, Wimberly was 81-57 at East and made the playoffs nine times.

"I think it was just time for me to take on a new challenge," he said. "Cordova has 2,100 students at the school, 100 players at the football team. They have facilities that they just don't have at East. The opportunity presented itself and I had to take it.

"I've got a lot of love for East ... but this was a no-brainer."

Wimberly won't have to wait long to cross paths with his alma mater once again; Cordova will host the Mustangs in the season-opener on Aug. 17.

 

Reach John Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @johnvarlas.

Edited January 23, 2018 by kwc

[fooseball95]

The reason he said he was leaving was cold blooded lol 

[kwc]

22 hours ago, fooseball95 said:

The reason he said he was leaving was cold blooded lol 

The coach who preceeded him, Anthony Jones, left his alma mater, Westwood, to coach at Cordova. Anthony Jones took a doormat of a program, and built it into a contender at Westwood. Things were looking up and the Westwood community was really excited that one of their own had come back and had such a significant impact on the school and the surrounding community. When the Cordova job came open ... Anthony Jones applied for it and got the job. When he was asked about leaving his alma mater, his response was the same as coach Wimberly's. You could probably cut and paste the responses.

The fact of the matter is this ... both Westwood and Memphis East suffer from enrollment problems. Westwood is just in an older neighborhood that isn't going to have a whole lot of new families move into the community. That's where Grandma lives, if you catch my drift. East is facing the same delima, not to mention the academic requirements that have been added because of the STEM Program.

Small public schools in urban areas with declining enrollments are always strapped for cash. Their facilities are antiquated and run down. In both instances, the smaller schools have been up for discussion to be closed and merged with another school in close proximity. More so with Westwood then with East, but there are still discussions about East's future.

Now ... here comes an opening at Cordova, which is one of the largest schools in the state, per enrollment, let alone, the school is barely 20 years +/- into existence. They have new facilities, especially as compared to Memphis East. It's just a better job. There only a few of those types of jobs in high school football in the City of Memphis.

I didn't think it sounded cold at all. I agree ... It was a no brainer.

Edited January 24, 2018 by kwc

[SdotBears]

On 1/23/2018 at 3:58 PM, fooseball95 said:

The reason he said he was leaving was cold blooded lol 

[fooseball95]

1 hour ago, SdotBears said:

Lol!!!!!!!!!! Real talk