Best 10 Midstate Coaches

[linemencoach]

Go Rutherford County

 

Eagleville, Siegel and Blackman are all new within past few years.

 

There has been 1 new school in Sumner in the past 10 years.

 

Who in the past 8 years has got a head coaching job that went directly from Riverdale?

[Guest region4fan]

Ron Crawford, who led Brentwood High School to a State Championship over Riverdale in his FIRST year!!!!I believe that was 2 yrs ago.

[WesVLT]

Go Rutherford County

 

Eagleville, Siegel and Blackman are all new within past few years.

 

There has been 1 new school in Sumner in the past 10 years.

 

Who in the past 8 years has got a head coaching job that went directly from Riverdale?

How about Ron Crawford of Brentwood? The former Riverdale DC took the Bruins to the state title in 2002, his first year with the team.

[WesVLT]

Ron Crawford, who led Brentwood High School to a State Championship over Riverdale in his FIRST year!!!!I believe that was 2 yrs ago.

Darn it, Region, you beat me to it!

[Guest region4fan]

Haha Wes Vols!!! David Watson, head coach of Siegel got his start at Riverdale when he was fresh out of college. He went straight to Blackman as the OC with no experience other than as a line coach. Blackman went to the playoffs every year that he was there, and almost beat Riverdale. Steve Britton, another line coach from RHS was offered the head job at Warren County recently. He was not willing to move ,and lost out on that opportunity.

[linemencoach]

I knew there were 2 or 3. I was just curious to see who they where.

 

Tracy Malone is a great coach who was at Riverdale.

 

He has been a OC in Georgia for the past few years.

 

He will be a head coach before too long.

[FHSrebel27]

There are two things I really like about this thread. One, that Jack Pittman got mentioned (allbeit by a biased BA fan). He really should be the head coach somewhere now. Schools are missing out by not hiring him. Two, like the love that TJ is getting. He's not too bad of a coach, is he?

 

Here's my list for what it's worth:

 

Carlton Flatt, Brentwood Academy

Gary Rankin, Riverdale

Tim Johnson, Franklin (I'm not biased, I promise!)

Jeff Rutledge, The Academy of Montgomery Bell

Ron Aydellot, Hillsboro

Ron Crawford, Brentwood

David Pack, Ensworth

Louis Thompson, Lincoln County

Glen McAdams, David Lipscomb (twittycanes will appreciate me putting him on here)

Scott Smith, Independence

 

Don't tell me that Williamson County isn't a hotbed for football!

[zorroschild]

There are two things I really like about this thread. One, that Jack Pittman got mentioned (allbeit by a biased BA fan). He really should be the head coach somewhere now. Schools are missing out by not hiring him. Two, like the love that TJ is getting. He's not too bad of a coach, is he?

 

Here's my list for what it's worth:

 

Carlton Flatt, <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a>

Gary Rankin, Riverdale

Tim Johnson, Franklin (I'm not biased, I promise!)

Jeff Rutledge, The Academy of Montgomery Bell

Ron Aydellot, Hillsboro

Ron Crawford, Brentwood

David Pack, Ensworth

Louis Thompson, Lincoln County

Glen McAdams, David Lipscomb (twittycanes will appreciate me putting him on here)

Scott Smith, Independence

 

Don't tell me that Williamson County isn't a hotbed for football!

Give me a break. You got 4 private school recruiter boys, 1 ex. recruiter boy who is a goof. 4 of the 5 who when at public schools were average or worse. 1 has never been at any school where he had to play with the talent given.

 

The others are understandable, but don't set back and tell me that the private 5 aren't playing with at least a little bit of a stacked deck!

[FHSrebel27]

I'm not getting into a priv-pub debate with you. But I will say this. Just because they're at a private school doesn't mean they're not a good coach. Flatt... well his record says enough. Remember who the Kats wanted to be their coach? Exactly. Rutledge, he had a decent team at best in 2002 and look what he did with them. That was pure coaching. I could go on and on with reasons why those two, along with Pack and I guess you're including McAdams are great coaches. I think Smith will prove you wrong when he has great success at Indy.

[twittycanes]

FHSRebel - Not that you care if you get points with me, but thanks for putting McCadams on your list. He is a fine man first then he is a great coach. He gets more out of his slow white boys than any coach in the state. Good luck to your Rebels this season. Since I am a big Vandy fan I always wish any alumni the very best.

[fromthetop2]

Public or private, small school or big school, it doesn't matter if you can coach. You are measured against your peers and these names stand out because of their success. How many schools were just slogging around with mediocre records until the right coach appeared? How many coaches took good players and made them believe in themselves and get better? How many coaches won with fewer numbers, lesser talent, or inadequate facilities? How many coaches turned out better men then football talent? How many kids leave their "glory days" with good things to say about the experience? I dare say, you could mix this list up and turn them on the "have nots" and more than not those teams will get better. Talent on the player level in high school is a hit or miss proposition-the better coaches coach them up beyond their potential or forge an impregnable unit. IMO, the talent level at MBA was not significantly better or worse before Rutledge came in and tuned it up and made it a champion. What talent did David Pack have before he came to CPA? Maybe a few better players decided to go there once they got better, but not enough to make a huge difference. It was, and is, coaching ability that does it.

Put any good private coach in a public situation, and vice versa-they would still be a winner.

[Manzikert]

IMO, the talent level at MBA was not significantly better or worse before Rutledge came in and tuned it up and made it a champion.

I agree with everything you say about coaching and what's important in creating a consistent winning program. Nobody consistently has enough talent at the HS level for talent to explain a 10 or 15 year (or longer) record of consistent success. At the HS level its coaching. The most obvious examples in Nashville on the public school level are Hillsboro and Pearl Cohn. Same zones, same basic collection of kids before Fitzgerald and Aydelot. Hillsboro sent some kids to UT (Mose Davis, I think that's the right name, for example). But they were pitiful--- terrible attendance, lackidasical teams-- I went to a Hillsboro-MBA game at Hillsboro in the early 80's-- it was Hillsboro's Homecoming and they had maybe 75 fans in the stands. It wasn't one of MBA's best teams but the beat the tar out of Hillsboro. New coach, new attitude-- totally different situation--- some college prospects, but they had those before. THe difference is the non college prospects playing to a higher level. That's coaching.

 

I did want to respond to the statement about MBA and Jeff Rutledge. No disrespect for the wonderful job he's done--- esp with the 2002 team--- but MBA had won 3 state titles and been runnerup once in the 5 years before he got there. 2001 was a little down, they were young in the secondary and McCallie threw all over them--- but they were still a pretty solid team--- shut out BA 17-0 in the mud, for example The author of that success was Ricky Bowers, who ought to be on this list somewhere as well. He suceeded to a long strong tradition built by Tommy Owen, and going back many years before that as well--- Coach Rutledge has maintained MBA as a championship program--- and I agree its been with roughly the same talent as has generally been there-- such as the 1998 state champions the had an O line with average SATs of 1300--- but he didn't "tune it up and make it a champion" IMO.