Sentinels will have parade to celebrate
A parade and celebration will be held Friday for the Chattanooga Prep Sentinels, the area’s first boys’ basketball program in 17 years to win a TSSAA state championship.
Their 15-game winning streak to finish the 2023-24 season was capped by a 64-41 victory against Frank Hughes in the Class 1A final last Saturday in Murfreesboro. That ended a drought for the Chattanooga area that started after Tennessee Temple Academy won the Class 1A boys’ championship in 2007.
The parade is set for 10 a.m., with people encouraged to line the sidewalks on Kirby Avenue, South Hawthorne Street and Union Avenue near the school’s campus in Highland Park. Members of the team will also speak to fans at their home gym.
“The support from the city and everyone has been overwhelming and amazing,” firstyear head coach Christian Collins said. “These boys put in so much work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make this day possible. They kept pushing and made history. We have a bunch of high-character guys who are extremely motivated.”
Chatt Prep finished 27-6 in its third year of varsity competition, earning district and region tournament titles before winning a sectional playoff game to return to the BlueCross Basketball State Championships, where the Sentinels reached the state semifinals in 2023. During their most recent campaign, the Sentinels posted impressive regular-season wins over Brainerd, Tyner and Walker Valley, a trio of teams that reached the sectional round in higher classifications.
Chatt Prep, which opened in 2018 with a class of sixth graders, won’t have its first senior class until next school year, but the Sentinels have been way ahead of schedule on the court by collecting 56 wins — including four at the state tournament — in three years of varsity play.
“We want to keep building on the success of the program,” Collins said. “We want to set the standard for Chattanooga basketball so we can get back on the map. Chattanooga has been an underrated city in basketball. Everybody talks about Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, but we want all of Chattanooga basketball to thrive and be highly thought of, too.”
Ivy League calling
Chattanooga Christian School strength and conditioning director Tony Decker,
who helped the football program become a perennial playoff qualifier after moving to Division II-AA, has accepted a position at Cornell University as the associate director of strength and conditioning and head of football performance.
He will begin that position with the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, in mid-April.
“Coach Decker is an inspiring leader who has made significant contributions to CCS since he arrived,” CCS athletic director Daniel Russell said. “His experience at the NCAA Division I level means we created a high standard of excellence in the weight room.”
In the Chargers’ first three football seasons competing in TSSAA DII-AA, before Decker arrived, the team compiled a 17-16 overall record with just one playoff win. But in the four seasons since he began overseeing the CCS weight training program, the Chargers have gone 26-17, with two appearances in the quarterfinals and one in the semifinals.
“I’m thankful for my time at CCS and the relationships I’ve been able to build here,” Decker said. “I will miss CCS, and I’m grateful for the athletes I have trained and coworkers who have poured into me and helped me grow as a teacher, mentor and a child of Christ.”
Decker began working at CCS in June 2020, bringing more than 30 years of collegiate strength and conditioning experience with D-I programs. He is a former national collegiate strength coach of the year, with five years of experience at Virginia, 10 years at Delaware, five at Temple and four at Coastal Carolina.
“Tony has proven to be one of the best in his field,” Cornell football coach Dan Swanstrom said. “He is a lifelong learner who truly cares about the student-athlete experience and will be a great fit in our program. I couldn’t be more excited to add someone of Tony’s caliber to the Cornell community.”
CCS, which has already started the search for Decker’s replacement, also announced on Thursday the hiring of Sophia Bossong as its new volleyball coach.
Bossong was a four-time prep All-American at Murfreesboro’s Siegel, where she set the TSSAA record for career assists (5,265). As a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in fall 2021, she was one of just two players to start all 30 matches for the Mocs that season.
“Her deep understanding of the game, coupled with an unwavering passion and commitment to nurturing talent, assures me that she will seamlessly transition from player to coach, leaving an indelible mark on her players just as she did on the court,” UTC volleyball coach Julie Torbett said in a news release.
Bossong’s staff will include current CCS assistants Meriel Chupp and Stephen Ibach.
100 all over again
At the age of 32, Jon Tucker has already amassed 100 wins as a head coach in both boys’ basketball and baseball for Polk County High School. Tucker reached the milestone on the diamond Monday, when the Wildcats won 4-1 at Meigs County in District 3-2A play.
The star of that victory was Polk County senior Kolton Casson who struck out 14 batters and also tripled while driving in three runs. Casson, a CarsonNewman signee and a state Mr. Baseball finalist season, has nearly 200 career strikeouts as a prep pitcher.
Tucker was hired straight out of college to lead Polk County’s boys’ basketball program, which is 135-134 during his 10-year tenure. In baseball, his teams have compiled a record of 100-93.
“They were going to do away with the baseball program when I first got here, but I wanted to step in and keep it alive,” Tucker said. “Coaching two sports has kept me young. I pride myself on building a strong relationship with everyone who plays for me. Seeing them go on to be great people, husbands and fathers is truly what makes my time coaching them worth it.”
Things have come full circle for Tucker as one of his several two-sport standouts, Luke Burrows, is now his assistant baseball coach. His father David Tucker, a legendary basketball coach, also plans to help him coach in both baseball and basketball after retiring early this March as the head coach of McMinn County’s girls’ basketball program.