Kevin Terry steps down at Heritage, Chris Hight promoted
One of the longest-tenured boys’ basketball coaches in all of northwest Georgia has stepped down.
Kevin Terry, the only boys’ head basketball coach in the history of Heritage High School, recently announced that he was resigning his the post and the school announced that longtime assistant Chris Hight has been tabbed to take over the Generals’ program.
Terry, who also coached tennis at the school and is currently the head coach for girls’ soccer, said the move will allow him to spend a little more time with his family.
“It’s just time,” said Terry. “I still love the game and I love all the basketball stuff... but for where I’m at careerwise and family-wise, it’s just time. I can spend a little more time with my family and maybe some other opportunities will open up down the road.”
The Ringgold High School graduate began his teaching and coaching career in Whitfield County before coming to LFO in 2003. He served one year as the boys’ interim coach before joining the Lady Warriors’ staff as an assistant under then-head coach Wayne Weaver.
He was named as the first boys’ head coach of the Generals in November of 2007 prior to the opening of the school in the fall of 2008.
In 14 seasons, Terry amassed a 209-167 overall record.
His best season, as far as wins and losses, came during the 2014-15 campaign when Heritage went 24-5 overall and 13-1 in region play, ending the regular season with 16 straight victories.
It was the first of three straight 20-win campaigns and was the first of six winning seasons the Generals would turn in over their next eight. The boys’ program won its first-ever region title in 202021 before finishing 9-14 this past season, coming one win shy of a ninth trip to state.
“It’s been a good run,” he continued. “Fourteen seasons and we went to state eight of those years. Early on, it was really hard to make state, so I’m really proud of the kind of program we started and we always did it together from the very beginning. There have been some great coaches and some great guys come through (the program) over the years. I just have some wonderful memories of some times together with all those guys that played for us.”
The school didn’t have to look too far for Terry’s replacement as Chris Hight, a 12-year assistant with the Generals, will slide down a couple of chairs on the bench. Hight also serves as an assistant on the football team.
“He’s been with me his whole career,” Terry explained. “He’s smart and passionate and he’ll put in the time. As far as his school schedule goes, he actually has a little more time than I do to work on things. He’ll have the boys prepared and he’ll have some high expectations for them. I think he’s going to do a great job.”
Hight said his primary goal was to make Heritage boys’ basketball into an even bigger program and maintain a level of consistency over the next decade. He added that he wants the program to continue to be known by its opponents as one that plays extremely hard as it simultaneously continues to build on the level of success it’s already achieved.
“We’ll get a system in place that fits our kids and their abilities and create a culture where kids want to be good at basketball,” he said. “These kids love the game of basketball and I’m going to give them every chance to be great at it.”
Hight said, for him, coaching is all about relationships and impacting children’s lives.
“Just coaching a sport will never be enough self-fulfillment for the hours I put in, so it has to be so much more than that,” he added. “It’s got to be built upon relationships with the kids, their families and the community.”