Lions’ Daniels resigns
Red Bank’s football coach for the last 10 years is “just tired” from all the responsibilities.
It was while Tim Daniels was working as an assistant coach for a postseason allstar game that the thought first crossed his mind.
Coaching the offensive line three years ago for a senior showcase, Daniels enjoyed wo r k i n g outside the s potlight that comes with being a head coach.
So after 18 years of leading a high school football program, the last 10 at Red Bank, Daniels resigned Thursday.
“I don’t have any other coaching offers or anything else going. I’m just tired,” Daniels said. “After every season you kind of evaluate where you are in your career, and I just kept going back to how much fun it was as an assistant in that all-star game, not having to deal with all the extras that come with being the head guy.
“The wheels have been turning in my head for a long time, and I finally decided this is the right time. I’ve had a blast and have zero regrets right now. I love working with the kids and Red Bank High School, but I’m just ready to take a step back.”
Daniels, who was the head coach at Loudon High School for eight years before coming to Red Bank, compiled a 77-40 record with the Lions, including last season’s 7-4 finish, and has a 149-65 overall record.
He had the unenviable task of taking over for a local legend by following Tom Weathers, who had guided the Lions for 28 years and had won its only state championship just two years before Daniels took over. With a roster loaded with younger players, Daniels took his lumps for the first
Many schools don’t have a choice of promoting eighthgraders. Robert High is the longtime boys’ coach at Brainerd, which didn’t have a freshman class the 1989-90 school year.
C. J. Black, Ced Dozier, Johnny Goodman and Mark Smith are a few who played plenty for him as freshmen, and might could’ve sooner.
“Some schools, I don’t want to say they have an advantage, but maybe they do,” High said. “If the middle school is in their building, eighth- graders can actually play for the high school team. Then by the time they get to ninth grade, they’ve got a year’s experience on everybody else.”
Marques Tipton is a starter for Brainerd this season. Last year at Dalewood Middle he was 6-foot-1 and averaging about 20 points and eight rebounds per game. He’s averaging eight points, six rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for the Panthers.
“I had to get used to the high school game,” he said. “The players are more physical, and they’re better. I need to improve on my ball-handling skills and get stronger.”
Said High: “No doubt he could’ve played some for us last year.”
When a coach is also a father, what sport his child ends up playing seems a natural choice. But not so when dad coaches football and the child, in this case Boyd- Buchanan’s Maddie Wright, is a girl.
Rusty Wright previously played and coached at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and currently commutes to Waleska, Ga., where he is defensive coordinator at NAIA Reinhardt University. Dad’s coaching stop at Butler University in Indianapolis was what influenced his daughter’s choice.
“I was surrounded by people who watched basketball nonstop,” Maddie said.
By seventh grade she was 5-foot-8, and a year later she’s a starting post YOUNGER GIRLS
NEEDED This current flow of eighthgrade talent is more widespread among girls’ teams. BoydBuchanan coach Karen Sewell, whose high school team features two eighth-graders, said it’s likely because girls at that age mature faster than boys, both physically and emotionally.
Sewell said she brought in eighth-graders because six high schoolers were all who came out in the beginning. Marisa Mccalla and post player Maddie Wright have proven to be valuable team members.
“I think it’s better for them to be playing with girls their own age,” Sewell said. “We just didn’t have the numbers. The first couple of games they were a little bit shell-shocked. They’ve learned to just fight back.”
Mccalla said she and Wright were told they would be moving to the high school team even before middle school tryouts. Mccalla has started all 22 games and averages six points, four rebounds and a steal per game.
“At first I had doubts,” she said. “I was just coming out of volleyball and I was kind of lazy. Finally they said they were short on girls. I remember I was nervous that first game. I couldn’t really do anything. I’m better now.”
Signal Mountain’s Aryn Sanders finished her middle school career Dec. 10, the same day her high school career began. Sand- player in high school.
“Maddie posts well,” Lady Bucs coach Karen Sewell said. “She’s extremely coordinated for an eighth- grader. She’s got a great shot.”
Wright missed nine games with a fracture in her elbow, but now she’s back and was averaging 8.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and had totaled 38 blocks before Thursday’s game, her 14th.
“It’s a faster tempo,” Wright said of high school games. “You’re playing against girls bigger than you, taller than you and have more experience than you. I still play at a middle school pace sometimes. I need to come up on that.” ers helped the younger Lady Eagles complete a 17-0 championship season, then through prearrangement was at Baylor two hours later when the high school team took on Soddy-daisy in the Hoops for Hope Classic. Her first shot was from behind the arc, and it went in.
“I was scared,” Sanders said. “The girls were a lot bigger. It’s just a faster-paced game.”
By her third game she was in the starting lineup. Despite missing the first seven of the Lady Eagles’ 22 games, she leads them in points (248) and steals (54).
“I think Aryn has shown the upperclassmen that everybody’s going to have to take their game to the next level,” Signal Mountain coach Jason Hill said. “I think she’s pushed some other girls to perform, rather than be relaxed with what they were doing.” LIGHTWEIGHT
WRESTLERS Historically in winter it’s been more prevalent seeing eighth-graders in high school wrestling starting lineups than on basketball teams.
“I think that’s just because it’s a sport with weight classes,” Baylor wrestling coach Ben Nelson said. “Because of that, some younger kids are able to play on a team at the varsity level.”
Nelson added that eighthgraders who have the skill to break into a team’s lineup generally do so in the lighter weights.
This year three eighthgraders have had notable sea- sons locally in the 106-pound weight class. Michael Murphy and James Westbrook of Division II wrestling rivals Baylor and Mccallie already have had some classic battles. Chattanoga Christian’s Trent Wallise is 16-6 with 12 pins.
Like wrestling, cross country has proven to be a sport where eighth-graders can excel. Lacking in size is a big benefit.
Size matters, however, in basketball.
“I think in this day and age, with all the resources out there to help you get better — AAU clinics, personal coaches, shooting machines, etc. — you’re going to see players getting better at a younger age,” Hill said. “If you go out and see some young kid playing basketball for a high school somewhere, you can bet it’s because they had the motivation and the heart to get better.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.