Grizzle official as CFC general manager

The Chattanooga Football Club announced Tuesday that Sheldon Grizzle, who served as its interim general manager for the past four months, will assume the position full time.

Grizzle replaced Sean McDaniel, who recently became the president and general manager of the Chattanooga Red Wolves, a professional team affiliated with League One of the United Soccer League.

“Chattanooga Football Club’s brightest days are ahead of us,” Grizzle said in a released statement. “We’re asking the question: ‘What would a city-centric organization look like with a 100-year vision?’ The steps we’ve taken over the last 10 years and the ones we are deliberately taking now answer that question. There are things that we can and should do that other teams can’t or won’t do. We have no doubt that Chattanoogans will be pleased with the future of Chattanooga FC.”

Grizzle spent the first three seasons of CFC’s existence (2009-11) working with a lot of the day-to-day dealings of the club along with Krue Brock, but he chose to step away in 2012 to pursue a number of different business and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Multiple reports have suggested that CFC is one of as many as 12 teams looking to form a professional division within the National Premier Soccer League and called NPSL Pro. The new league would begin play in 2019 with a Founders’ Cup that would run from August — the end of the regular NPSL season — through November, with a full league season including even more teams starting the next season.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@ timesfreepress.com.