Hixson wrestling coach Garrick Hall confers with another coach on the floor of the Hixson Middle School gym while hosting the Vandergriff tournament in 2018.
photo by M.A. Locke
Everyone has a valid reason for picking an interestling career and knowing what you want to do to support yourself for the rest of your life.
Many involve jobs working with young people and helping them to become productive men and women in hopes they can make a positive difference in someone’s life.
That is certainly the case for those who choose teaching and coaching on the high school level. The pay isn’t great, but the rewards are far greater than any paycheck.
That was surely the case for Garrick Hall.
He graduated from Hixson High School in 1990 before going to UTC where he earned an undergraduate degree in Phys Ed and Health Education. He added to it with a masters degree from Tennessee Tech.
He started his coaching career at East Ridge where he was an assistant under Brad Jackson before moving to Hixson where he served as a wrestling assistant under Roger Vandergriff for six years.
Hall has now been the head coach at Hixson for the past 17 years.
His teams won back-to-back state duals titles in 2009 and 2010 and they won the A-AA traditional title in 2014.
Hall has coached five individual state champions and has been honored as the Region Coach of the Year three times.
But after 17 years in which his teams never had a losing record, the 49-year-old Hall has decided to resign and let someone younger lead the way for the Wildcats.
He won his 400th match this year when his guys had a record of 27-8 for career mark of 401 wins against just 85 losses.
Hall is currently the Dean of Students at Hixson and intends to stay in that position, but he made the decision to resign as wrestling coach.
It wasn’t an easy process.
“I have enjoyed watching young kids grow and mature into productive young men, so this wasn’t an easy decision for me to make,” he said during a break following lunch Wednesday afternoon.
“But I’m tired and ready to let someone else take over. Roger Vandergriff gave me the chance to take over his program 17 years ago and I’ll always be grateful to him for that. I have no idea what I’m going to do with all my spare time because I’ve never had any.
“I plan to help with the transition and I’ll still support the program in every way possible, but I won’t have to take care of all the details that are involved with a head-coaching position.
“I can’t ever forget where I came from and all the wonderful men that impacted my life in such a great way. But this is about the kids and not about me at all,” he continued.
Landon Goforth was his first state champion while others to follow include Trevor Lewis, Cedric Harris, Truman Ross and Parrish Pacetti.
“I only had five state champs, but a lot of seconds and thirds. Winning that first state title as a team was huge and probably one of my happiest moments as a coach, but seeing the excitement of the kids after winning something they had worked so hard for.
“This is certainly a bittersweet decision and Roger was the first one I called to let him know and to thank him for all he had done for me. But I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.
“I’ve accomplished about all I can do and it’s time to let someone much younger take over. I’ve been blessed with great parents and I’ve had some great parents who have been huge supporters of our program. And I’ve also been blessed to have some great assistant coaches along the way as one person can’t do it by himself,” Hall concluded.
Garrick and his wife Mary Pat will celebrate their 22nd anniversary later this month. Gabe is their only son while she has two others – Drew and Luke – from a previous marriage.
A new coach is in the works, but nothing formal has been announced yet.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)