Best 10 Midstate Coaches

[boneal52]

Greg Gregory has done a knock up job at Centennial. Took a team that had won 7 games in its first three varsity seasons and has brought them to the playoffs in the last two years. More so, he has brought a new attitude there. The talent has been there, but he has figured out how to use it and how to get it to work to his advantage. It took about two seasons to get the squad rolling and to get the kids to believe in what he's doing, but it looks like they're on the right track now.

 

Tim Johnson is a similar story. Franklin High has ALWAYS had talent. Sometimes more talent than they could use. And they even had some good teams, but were never over the top. Now, he's made them into a state contender. He pushed a .500ish team to a squad that will win 12+ every year as long as he's there. He has assembled a great staff (an underrated quality of a good head coach) and has the kids playing hard for their school. There is alot of pride at Franklin, and there should be. Its an awesome place to see a game. All this coming from someone who was trained to hate them. I have an emense respect for what is going on at Franklin High. The kids play hard. If you beat them, they'll be right there to shake your hand.

 

Also...

 

David Pack

Carlton Flatt

Maurice Fitzgerald

[WesVLT]

How could I forget about Maurice Fitzgerald? A great coach and an even better guy...I had a great time two summers ago watching the NBA Finals with him in the Gibbs Hall game room at UT...I was there for broadcasting camp and he was coaching the Tennessee squad in the TN-KY all-star game.

[nununu]

How could I forget about Maurice Fitzgerald? A great coach and an even better guy...I had a great time two summers ago watching the NBA Finals with him in the Gibbs Hall game room at UT...I was there for broadcasting camp and he was coaching the Tennessee squad in the TN-KY all-star game.

I will say Fitzgerald has done a fine job as of late. Yet it took him five seasons to make the playoffs, and six to finally have a winning record, with virtually the same talent, if not better, than he has had in recent years. Pearl-Cohn averaged about 3 wins a year until the 1995 season.

[Croach]

I think a great post or to continue on with this one: Would be who has the best assistant coaches. I don't really want be to name names, just schools. Because we all know head coaches are only as good as their assistants! thumb

[BigWesHall]

Ron Crawford from Brentwood is by far the finest coach I've ever met or played under, As a person Crawford is truly he actually cares about his players,He will pick your offensive game plan clean.

 

Gary Rankin is talented, talented at finding good talent, as a former warrior I will say this, Rankin is not all he's cracked up to be, but he is good at winning no matter what.

[8ManFront]

Easy Big Wes ............Rankdog has won an incredible amount of games in the last 13 years. It has not seemed to matter who his assistants were or who is players were. No doubt, the talent over there has been great, but the Head Coach is the one who instills the discipline and confidence in those talented athletes to make winning possible. Give credit where credit is due.

[BigWesHall]

I took it easy, believe me I could speak volumes of what Rankin is cracked up to be. Out of respect for coach Rankin I will bite my tongue. Oh by the way I've played for the past three years at RHS, in the amount of time you get to know people

[Antwan]

Easy Big Wes ............Rankdog has won an incredible amount of games in the last 13 years. It has not seemed to matter who his assistants were or who is players were. No doubt, the talent over there has been great, but the Head Coach is the one who instills the discipline and confidence in those talented athletes to make winning possible. Give credit where credit is due.

Rankin was 10-0 both of his last two seasons at Smith County. He would win anywhere.

[TheBigRedDog]

Ricky Bowers-MBA, Ensworth

The guy is a genius. I swear, he can see things before they happen. 3 titles.

 

Jeff Rutledge-MBA\

Offensive mastermind has taken his experience as Bama QB, NFL, and Vandy to make MBA's offense the hardest to stop in the state. 2 titles.

 

Carlton Flatt- BA

His record speaks for itself. 9 titles

 

David Pack- CPA, Ensworth

Took a fledgling program and molded them into contenders every year. 1 title

 

Ron Adellote- Hillsboro

As others have said, they were TERRIBLE when he got there. We destroyed them in '96 with mostly our JV guys. Now they're title contenders. 1 title.

 

Gary Rankin- Riverdale

Like him or not, you gotta respect what he's done there. 3 titles.

 

Clint Satterfield- Trousdale County

Seems like they're near the top almost every year. 4 titles.

[rhshasbeen66]

Once again, in no particular order except for the first two...

 

Steve Britton(RHS)- the man just knows how to get the best from his boys. in my opinion, one of the best two coaches in the state.

 

Ron Crawford(Brentwood)- nothing can be said against this man. awesome coach, even more awesome of a guy. best of luck to him. he and coach britton are the two best coaches i have ever been around.

 

Gary Rankin(RHS)- gotta respect what he's been able to accomplish with even his worst ball clubs.

 

Carlton Flatt(BA)- i don't think he's the most respectable guy in the world after he ducked out to avoid all the controversey at BA, but like rankin, he knows how to win.

 

Clint Satterfield(Trousdale)- great man, great coach. very enthusiastic. was my coach at a linemen camp i attended as a freshman and was a great influence and motivator.

 

Louis Thompson(Lincoln County)- coaching genius, and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. ran into him at mtsu and didn't know who he was, just recognized his jacket--felt extremely dumb. plus, he played for bear bryant--what other explanation do you need?

 

Roger Perry(Portland)- don't know much about AAA football, but i do know that Portland is always a contender. hats off to coach perry. i work with his daughter at mtsu, so maybe i'm a little biased, or just a little scared to leave his name off since she checks coacht quite a bit.

 

Ron Aydellot(Hillsboro)- took an awful team to the state title game how many years in a row? say what you want, but aydellot is a fine coach.

 

Jeff Rutledge(MBA)- MBA is always tough and with Rutledge at the helm they have become that much scarier. always like to see good things from one of my former summer time rivals.

 

well, there's my picks. hope somebody can agree with me. however, this message is for bigweshall. i know exactly who you are, and i also know that in all your years at Riverdale you never started, not even one game. heck, you even got kicked off of the extra point team. so why don't you just shut your trap and show a little class when you talk about rankin. sure, alot of people have their beef with him (apparently even former players) but don't let the fact that you never got in any ballgames undermine the fact that you simply do not have an athletic bone in your body. show some class man, at least coach rankin had the patience to put up with your unathleticism for four years. i think that fact speaks volumes for rankin as a coach. oh, and don't even get me started on you signing with cumberland...

[timbdp]

Jeff Porter White House

Gary Rankin Riverdale

Clint Satterfield Trousdale Co

Maurice Fitzgerand Pearl-Cohn

Robert Lassiter Gallatin

Louis Thompson Lincoln Co

Carlton Flatt Brentwood Academy

Ron Crawford Brentwood

Jeff Rutledge MBA

Ron Aydelot Hillsboro

[Redtwin]

I love Rutledge as a coach, but if you`re gonna have him on this list, then ricky bowers has to be on there. Rutledge inherited a program built up by bowers, including 3 championship, 1 runner up, 1 semi-final in 5a, 2 USAToday top 25 finishes, several dI recruits, etc. bowers is a great coach, and i predict he will have similar success at ensworth in a little over a decade.