BD Newsletter

By Brad Durham

Coaching Career

Carson-Newman University – Student Assistant 1979, Graduate Assistant, 1980

Private Business, 1981-1983

Loudon High School – Assistant, 1983

Samford University – Assistant, 1984-1985

Maryville High School, Assistant, 1986-1988

Maryville High School, Head Coach, 1989-1992

Tullahoma High School, Head Coach 1993-2021

229 Wins as a Head Coach

26 wins at Maryville High School

203 wins at Tullahoma High School

Introduction

The final year of John Olive’s forty-plus years of coaching ended with his first championship season. Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra or any of the great filmmakers in Hollywood’s colorful history could not have produced a better ending to a brilliant career. Not only did John Olive go out on top, he went out doing what he dreamed of doing as a kid in high school. Football has been his life-long passion.

When he was in high school, John Olive started developing defensive schemes to stop innovative offenses. He wanted to be a coach like Bear Bryant, and his notebooks in high school were full of diagrams demonstrating how to stop the wishbone because Alabama was running it very successfully. Although he admired coach Bryant, his beloved Tennessee Vols could not stop Bryant’s wishbone. When asked why he chose football as his life’s profession, John Olive simply replied, “Why not football!” 

One might say that Olive was coached for life in high school by Maryville head coach Ted Wilson and assistant coaches Don Story and Lynn Brown. Football became a passion for John Olive in high school, and his football coaches made a lasting impression. Olive said, “I would not have been coaching in that championship game without the influence of these three men in my life. I was truly blessed to have been coached by them and to know them.”

Two key components of football appeal to Olive more than all the others. He said, “I love the game. It is a mixture of toughness and at the same time you have to be smart because it is a game of schematics as well.” Ask anyone who coached against Olive to describe his Tullahoma teams, and a response would undoubtedly include comments about Tullahoma’s team intelligence.

Olive describes football as a battlefield, a constant conflict of one-on-one battles that transpire on every play. Teams have to collectively win individual battles to win games. He said, “Someone is trying to block you, or you are trying to block him. Someone is trying to tackle you, or you are trying to run the ball. You are carrying out a fake to get rid of that one guy.”

The interdependence on each other is what makes football so special to Olive. He said, “It is a team game. I think it was Joe Paterno who said that all great running backs look the same as other backs when there is no place to go. When I was drawing up defenses in high school to stop the wishbone and triple option, I had not yet figured out it is the Jimmy and Joes, not the Xs and Os that determine whether or not you can stop it,” Olive said.

In 2021, John Olive had the coaching staff, the X’s and O’s, and the Jimmys and Joes to win a championship for the first time in his career. It was also the first state championship for Tullahoma High School football. The championship came during John Olive’s 29^th and final season as a head coach at Tullahoma. It was an ending that a young John Olive in high school may have dreamed of happening, but no one was predicting a championship after Olive suffered back-to-back 0-10 seasons in 2015-16.

Background to the Championship Season

The general public was unaware of John Olive’s behind the scenes plan to retire in 2021 as head football coach. Olive was both Athletic Director and head football coach from 2017-2021. According to Olive, “I started planning my retirement a year before the championship game. I first notified my principal, Jason Quick in July of 2020 that the next season would be my last as head coach. I reiterated my decision to retire later in December of 2020 to Mr. Quick and for the first time to my superintendent, Dr. Catherine Stephens. Will I come back (someday) as an assistant if one of my sons becomes a head coach – that is a possibility.”

Olive continued, “If my sons had not been coaching with me, I may have retired in 2018.” That was the year Tullahoma had fully rebounded from the 0-20 years (2015-2016), and the team made it to the state quarterfinals. At this point in 2018, Olive actually felt vindicated after recently going 0-20. Maplewood beat Tullahoma in the 2018 quarterfinals and then got destroyed by Greeneville. Olive reflected on his feelings after the 2018 season, “Reality sets in, and we assumed that we would never have the talent level to win a state championship.”

Turning the Corner in Defeat

The 2016 (0-10) season had a pivotal ending. Olive remembers, “We were not terrible. We still connected with the kids. We asked the team before the last game that season against Giles County if we were going to play to end a second 0-10 season or play to win our first game.”

According to Olive, “Our kids played their hearts out. We still got beat. We had a turnover late in the third quarter, and Giles County goes up by two touchdowns. We cannot close the gap. It had been a game where we tied it up, and they would get ahead. We would tie it up again, and they would get ahead. Yet, I knew then that we had not lost the young men.”

Season Records Improve

Tullahoma football improved after the 2016 season. 

2017 – 5-5

2018 – 10-3

2019 – 7-4

2020 – 12-1

2021 – 15-0

Quantity and Quality – Keys to the 2021 Season

Olive explains his championship team’s success in clear terms. He said, “As we got a quantity of quality athletes, because in our sport you need a quantity of good athletes, I knew that we could get back to competing and doing well. You have to have both – quantity and quality. I am not talking about elite. If you only have one or two really good football players, your team won’t look very good. The championship team was a good example. We had a quantity of quality athletes who beat teams who had elite athletes but not the quantity of good football players.”

Moreover, Olive stressed that although his team did not have elite players signing D1 scholarships to play at the next level, he had an abundance of quality players at Tullahoma in 2021. For example, Olive mentioned Will Partin who did not get offers to play football anywhere in college, but made play after play in game after game for Tullahoma in 2021. 

Olive stressed that opponents could not take away one player to stop Tullahoma’s offense. He said, “We had depth of quality players at every position. Throughout the playoff run, we had several receivers making big plays. Brody Melton made big plays. Joe Duncan made big plays. Jacob Dixon made big plays. They all made big plays in the playoffs. We had one receiver, Krys Uselton whom we hid on defense during the regular season. He did not start on offense until the playoffs.”

Not only did Tullahoma have four quality receivers, and they also had two hard-nosed running backs, Jaxon Sheffield and KeiShawn Cummings who could catch passes. Olive highlighted that the leader of his offense was quarterback Ryan Scott who was 27-1 as a starter.

The Coaching Years

Carson-Newman University

John Olive’s coaching career actually started in college when he became a Student Assistant in 1979 at Carson-Newman University after an injury ended his playing career. The next season he became a Graduate Assistant on Ken Sparks’ first team at Carson-Newman. After the 1980 football season, Olive took a three-year detour from coaching to work in private business for a wealthy Carson-Newman supporter.

As a Graduate Assistant, Olive and another G.A. were able to live in an apartment at a Walking Horse stable owned by the Carson-Newman supporter, Bill Mullins. In exchange for rent, Olive and his colleague fed horses, mowed the lawn around the barn and other chores. Mullins was impressed with young Olive, and he tried to lure Olive to come work for him. The third time Mullins offered Olive a job, Olive accepted.

Loudon High School 1983-1984

Olive became a closer and was moving up in Mullins lucrative umbrella of businesses. It was a colorful and profitable three years for Olive working in private business out of Knoxville, but he decided to make a change. In 1983, Olive had the opportunity to reenter coaching at Loudon High School as an assistant coach on Henry Blackburn’s staff. The introduction to coaching high school football came with a big surprise – budget cuts.

During his first year at Loudon, Olive started an FCA group at Loudon High School with the girls assistant basketball coach, Randy Davis. Before spring break in 1984, there was a school board meeting, and Davis was to be moved to Lenoir City. Olive went to the school board meeting to speak on his friend Davis’ behalf with the intent at keeping Davis at Loudon High School.

Unknown to Olive, the school system was planning to make personnel cuts. It was a tough economic period for Tennessee government state-wide. The first item on the school board meeting’s agenda was to cut seven personnel positions, and John Olive’s name was one of the seven. Only 10 minutes had passed in the meeting that began at 7:00 p.m. when the board quickly announced that they had to take a break as the small crowd of about 30 people became vocally opposed to the proposed cuts. Within an hour, there were 200 to 300 people trying to get into the meeting, and sheriff deputies were summoned to control the crowd. The meeting did not end until 11:00/11:30. 

Of course, there were no cell phones in 1984, but the word quickly spread that John Olive and other teachers were going to lose their positions. The day after the meeting was a Friday, the last day before spring break, and it also happened to be pay day. Checks had to be physically picked up by teachers at the school. Olive asked his head coach Blackburn if he would pick up Olive’s check. Olive was in no mood to attend school the next day, and he would meet the coach on campus to get his check.

There was another surprise the next day for Olive when he dropped by Loudon High School’s campus after lunch to pick up his check. Coach Blackburn and a salesman from the Athletic house greeted Olive with some shocking news. That morning, students refused to go to classes because John Olive was being cut from the school staff. Students congregated in the gym and auditorium, refusing to attend classes. Knoxville television stations had been there to cover the student protest.

The only way students were persuaded to go to classes was a promise from the superintendent to the principal that he would meet with a committee of students to discuss Olive’s future with Loudon High School. Olive finished out the year as a Biology and Economics teacher. His position for the next school year was a casualty of the budget cuts.

The brush with budget cuts and losing his job motivated Olive to apply for coaching positions after spring break. Samford University had decided to reinstate its football program, and Samford appealed to Olive because he had a sister living in Birmingham where the university was located. Something crystalized during that rocky year at Loudon High School for John Olive. He had a major revelation, which he stated, “I knew that I wanted to be developing young people instead of developing pieces of property with older people.” From that point forward, John Olive was a football coach.

Nevertheless, Olive was about to soon learn that coaching at the college level was not any more secure than it was at the high school level. Budget cuts would once again have an impact on Olive’s career at his next coaching stop.

Samford University

John Olive made one-third the amount of income at Loudon High School that he made in private business working for Bill Mullins, and that didn’t include his business expense account and company car. At Samford University, Olive was earning half of what he was making at Loudon High School. The college job was technically part-time with the possibility that at least two coaches would be elevated to full-time coaches before the next season.

As young John Olive embarked that summer on his commitment to coaching at Samford University, he married his wife, Cherie. Olive’s father was concerned about his son’s income reversals in his new coaching career, and he told Cherie, “If he does anything like this again, we will have him put into a facility.” John Olive believed that his first year at Samford would be part-time, but would become a full-time position in the near future.

Fortunately, Olive’s parents did not have to put him into a facility; however, coaching at Samford was a tough transitional period for John and Cherie. Samford University cut at least $50,000 – $60,000 from the football budget after Olive’s first season. There was no money for full-time positions after the first year. Laverne Farmer, the AD and Business Manager for the university told the coaches about some part-time jobs for the summer after announcing the budget cuts. The prospect of part-time summer jobs to supplement a part-time coach’s income did not sit well with the assistant coaches at Samford.

Olive, a man of strong faith and Christian convictions, believes that God was taking care of his future as he and his wife struggled financially during the Samford years. Heating their apartment during the first winter was a challenge. They had budgeted only enough money to heat the apartment with a kerosene heater. Temperatures dropped that winter down to zero in Tennessee and single digits in Birmingham. The Olives ran out of their budgeted heating money before the first week of January ended.

They had moved their mattress into the living room with the plan to heat only one room of the cinder block apartment, but the extreme cold weather required more heat than they anticipated. John Olive remembers laying on the mattress in a cold, unheated apartment praying that he would find extra work somehow to to provide extra income to pay for more kerosene. One morning Olive heard water running in the vacant apartment directly below and reported it to Samford’s housing department. The housing department discovered that the water pipes in the vacant apartment below the Olives had frozen and broken during the frigid temperatures.

The university housing department repaired the pipes and turned on the gas heat in the apartment below to ensure that the pipes would not freeze again. The vents for the heat in the downstairs apartment were in the ceiling, and fortunately, the Olive’s apartment had heat coming through their floor. Olive said, “It was another example of how God meets your needs.” The next year Olive was in charge of the married housing apartments for the university and heat was provided in his and Cherie’s apartment as part of the job’s compensation.

Once again, John Olive started updating his resume and looking for a new coaching position. The seeds for his next coaching job were actually planted during the first game of the 1985 season, Olive’s last season with Samford. Samford opened up the season at Sewanee, the University of the South. The Superintendent of Maryville Schools was at that game.

The Maryville Superintendent happened to be a Sewanee alumnus, and he knew that Olive had graduated from Maryville High School. Several months after that game, Olive was putting together his resume in the spring of 1986 at Samford, and out of the blue, the Superintendent contacted him and asked him if he was interested in coming back to Maryville High School. Olive reflects, “It is how God works some things out. I see that in hindsight.”

A couple of interesting anecdotes during Olive’s time at Samford. The first is the fact that the game the Superintendent saw Olive coaching for Samford at Sewanee, Samford lost to the University of the South. That was an especially discouraging loss because the University of the South was the only team Samford University had beaten the previous season. 

The other interesting anecdote is that in 1984, Samford played it first game after reviving the football program with only three weeks of practice against Salem College, which is now called Salem University. Samford lost that game 82-9. Olive and the Samford coaching staff believed Salem tried to get to triple digits on the scoreboard at the end of the game, and Samford played prevent defense to the final whistle. The coach of Salem College was a 28-year-old Terry Bowden, the son of Bobby Bowden. Terry Bowden would later go on to coach at Samford and Auburn. The quarterback of that Salem team in 1984 was Jimbo Fisher who is presently the head coach at Texas A&M.

Maryville High School

After a two-year stint at Samford University, John Olive returned to his roots at Maryville High School as an assistant to head coach Don Story. Olive said, “Don Story is one of the most intelligent men I have ever met. He spoke three-to-four languages fluently. He was my defensive coordinator when I played at Maryville High School. I would have done anything coach Story asked me to do in high school. If he told me to go out there and do a head-stand, I would have done it believing that it would have helped our team. Coach Story was man who gave generously to both Maryville High School and Maryville College after he made a million dollars in the stock market on a teacher’s salary.” 

Story resigned as head coach after the 1987 season, and Emory Hale was named the head coach in 1988. Hale convinced Story to come back as defensive coordinator that year, but Hale resigned after the 1988 season. Olive was promoted to head coach after being an assistant coach for a few years. Olive said, I probably became a head coach before I was ready to become a head coach. We struggled for two years. I told the assistant coaches going into the 1991 season if they would hang with me, I was going to make some changes. The talent pool (at Maryville) was getting better as well. I became a better coach between 1990 and 1991. That was when I probably made my biggest jump as a coach.”

Under Olive’s head coaching, Maryville went 7-3 in 1991, barely missing the playoffs. Only the top two teams in a region went to the playoffs in those days, opposed to the top four who go today. The next year, 1992, Maryville went undefeated until late in the season. The Rebels were undefeated and facing Sevier County in a matchup Olive thought favored the Maryville Rebels.

Looking back, Olive said, “I should have moved the game against Sevier County to the next night because we played in a downpour. They were bigger than us, and our speed was negated.” Sevier County won the game 10-9. Maryville’s placekicker missed his first PAT in three years. Clinton beat Maryville in the first round and lost to Gallatin in the championship game. It was a frustrating ending, but an improvement over the previous 1991 season.

1992 was successful football season for Maryville and head coach, John Olive. However, being a football coach was only part of Olive’s description. Olive was a biology teacher during school hours, and Olive expected to be teaching less biology classes in his fourth year at his alma mater. His teaching schedule was supposed to change from several biology classes to only morning biology classes with P.E. after lunch with a free sixth period. Olive was informed in August of 1992, right before school started, that he would have to teach five biology classes because of the size of the incoming class. Olive didn’t really like having a five-class load in his fourth year as head coach, and that increased class load left a burr under his saddle.

A PREMONITION IN LATE 1991

Maybe it was a divine premonition, and looking back, Olive said that he sees how God worked things out. The “premonition” may have come when John and Cherie Olive were traveling to Tims Ford Lake over Christmas in 1991. They were spending Christmas at Cherie’s dad’s brother’s new house on the lake. Olive has confirmed the location of the “premonition” by looking at a map. They were traveling on 127 from Tims Ford to Hillsboro on their route back east. Olive said, “We were driving and seeing quail walk across the road in the morning with the sun beaming down on Woods Reservoir. I turned to my wife and said, You know, I could live here. She said, ‘Really?’ I said, Yes, did you see that covey of quail crossing the road? And she said, ‘Yes’.”

John Olive was back at Maryville High School for many months after seeing the quail and beaming sunlight when he learned about teaching five biology classes for the 1992 school year. Olive remembers responding to the news about his class load, “I was huffing a bit and I am in the assistant principal’s office with another coach who was a close friend. I said this class load makes me think of going somewhere else.” The coaching friend said, “Where are you going to go?” Olive replied, “I don’t know, Tullahoma or some place!” Olive said that he had no idea why he mentioned Tullahoma, and he didn’t think any more about it. He taught five biology classes, was coaching football, winning, and having fun. He knew he had more good kids coming up. He said, “The ship is righted (in 1992) and we are moving in the right direction.”

THE CALL

A coach contacted Olive the Tuesday after his Maryville team had lost to Clinton. The coach wanted to know if Olive would be willing to talk to a school in the mid-state. Olive told the coach that he would have to think about it for 24 hours. He was building a new house in Maryville. His first son, Jared was a year-old. It was not an ideal time to move from his hometown and alma mater.

Olive decided to meet the people who had expressed interest in him. In November, he met a Tullahoma businessman, Pat Welsh and Dr. Embry, Tullahoma’s Superintendent of Schools at a hotel in Athens, Tennessee. Olive thought he was going for an interview, which may have been the original plan, but he left that hotel with an offer to be Tullahoma’s next coach.

When Olive won a state championship at Tullahoma in 2022, Ronnie Carter, the TSSAA Executive Director in 1992 called Olive to congratulate him. During that call, Ronnie Carter said, “I guess I will take a little credit for you being at Tullahoma.” Olive said, “How’s that?” Carter replied, “Well, Don Embry called me wanting to know some good coaches around the state (back in 1992), and you are one of the coaches I named.” Olive commented, “This confirms what Dr. Embry had previously told me.”

THE DECISION

Olive is not sure how long the process lasted, but he does remember that it was long enough for Tullahoma to start interviewing other people for the head coaching position. The weekend after the meeting in Athens, John and Cherie stopped in Tullahoma on the way to the football state championships at Vanderbilt University. They met Dr. Covington, who was the principal at Tullahoma High School. The school had asked a realtor to show John and Cherie houses and around the town. 

Olive reflects on that time period, saying, “I wonder why I am even talking to anybody. We are building a new house that is supposed to be ready in January. I go, okay God…I can’t figure this out. My prayer is that you speak to me through my wife. I did not tell my wife about that prayer, and I don’t know how many days I prayed that prayer.”

A few weeks later, John Olive sat up in bed around midnight and said, “I don’t know what to do.” Cherie said, “I cannot tell you why I feel this way, but I feel as though it is a door we are supposed to walk through.” Olive turned to his wife and said, “I think you are right.” He picked up the phone and called Dr. Embry, and obviously got him out of bed. Olive said, “If you will still have me as your coach, I will come to Tullahoma.”

Dr. Embry hired John Olive, and soon afterwards, Olive was in Tullahoma. Olive said, “MLK Day in 1993 was my first day here (in Tullahoma), and to my surprise, we are in school. Welcome to middle Tennessee!”

Retirement from Coaching

“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” – Gen. Douglas MacArthur

John Olive described his decision to retire, “I enjoy the coaching part, but I did not want to become a drag on the program. I did not want to be coaching from a golf cart like I have seen so many older coaches have to do. I am not saying that is wrong; I am simply saying that is not something I wanted to do. Plantar Fasciitis is something I have battled for the past 15 years, but since I have had COVID, I cannot get my foot problems under control.”

His physical challenges were real, and John Olive faced what many athletic men face in their later years…pain. Another example of how severe his physical pain had become in recent years was Olive’s struggle to keep water skiing.

Olive said, “I used to water ski, and I wanted to ski into my sixties. A couple of surgeries made me realize that when I skied my last time at 59, I struggled to get back in the boat, and I couldn’t get completely back in the boat. I flopped over and laid on the back platform for 10 minutes before I could finally crawl into the back seat. I sat there for the rest of the afternoon, and I knew that was it. Too many surgeries had brought my skiing to an end.”

Olive’s childhood hero, Bear Bryant battled illness in his final years of coaching, and Bryant died four weeks after coaching his final game in the 1982 Liberty Bowl, a 21-13 victory over the University of Illinois. Bryant announced his retirement when the regular season ended, having finished in sixth place in the SEC, losing to LSU and Tennessee for the first time since 1970. It was an inglorious ending to a remarkable coaching career for Bear Bryant.

Perhaps the sad ending of Bryant’s career was in the back of Olive’s mind when he told his principal, Jason Quick in 2020 that he was going to retire from coaching after the next season, a year in advance of his public retirement. In December of 2020, Olive reiterated to his principal, Mr. Quick that he would retire after the 2021 season. Olive told superintendent, Dr. Catherine Stephens for the first time in December of 2020 that the next year (2021) was his last as coach.

Olive remembers the physical pain of his final season, “Standing on the field during practice was no fun. A fun football team to be around. A fun football staff to be around. Obviously, we are winning and that makes the environment fun. The pain was confirmation that I had made the right decision, that it was time. I could have hung on for a few more years, but I didn’t want to be a hanging-oner.”

Transition to Life as a Full-Time Athletic Director

John Olive was in his fifth year in dual roles as Athletic Director and head football coach at Tullahoma High School when the football team won the championship. 2022 is Olive’s sixth year as AD and his first as a full-time Athletic Director. He describes the transition, “This is a busy time of the year. There is not a lot of down time. I don’t have the super long (football coaching) days of getting in at 6:00 a.m. and leaving at 9:00 p.m. I have seen more volleyball and soccer games than I have seen in my entire lifetime.”

Olive is the Athletic Director over the entire Tullahoma school system which often requires his presence at athletic events five nights a week. He will often get to work at 7:45 and have a lunch at home in midafternoon, returning to school by 4:00 p.m. Once a month Olive will have an early morning meeting with all the high school head coaches at 6:50 a.m. It is something he eventually wants to start with middle school coaches as well.

Olive revealed his focus as an Athletic Director, “As an AD you are trying to put things into place where all of your coaches are working together as a team. They become family…doesn’t meant that you don’t have problems within your family, but you can talk and work things out. We have started meeting once a month. Next year will probably start that at middle schools as well. You work on some things from a big picture perspective. Help coaches know why they are coaching. Give them support. Work on facilities.”

Olive continued, “I have worked really hard the past five years to improve our facilities, soccer and softball in particular. They are on what we call our east middle school campus athletic facilities. I have hit it at a good time because our school board has built up some reserves, and therefore there was some money we could spend to upgrade our facilities.”

Awards

John Olive has won many awards over the years as both a coach and athletic director. He has won the coveted TSSAA A.F. Bridges Award as an athletic director and coach. The award is considered a honor for what is best in high school sports, including sportsmanship and citizenship. He won a MLK, Jr. Award in Tullahoma a few years ago. Last year, Olive won the Tennessee Titans Coach of the Year award.

Olive said, “Most of the awards you get as a football coach are for your staff. The local awards mean something because it means your community appreciates you. The coach awards mean something because of the people you are competing against.”

He continued, “You realize that in the sport of football, it is a group thing. And you learn how fleeting they are. In a year or two, people forget about the awards. The state championship one is real, and it will stay.” Olive also shared a part of his coaching philosophy that he believes led to awards and a championship season. He said, “Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well, and you will do well. I have repeated that often to my team and staff. It is a truth of life, not just a football truth.”

Family Life as a Head Coach

John Olive gives much credit to his wife, Cherie for keeping the home life stable and positive. Olive said, “Cherie has done a great job raising our kids. You live like a divorced person four-to-five months out of the year, and the offseason is not a lot different. I felt like as the head football coach in a small town that it was important for me to be at basketball games and other sports. I went to at least one girls soccer game during our season because I had students in class who were on the team. I have gone to school plays because I had students in my class performing in the plays. I have been to a band concert. I thought it was important as a head football coach in a small town to support kids in other sports and activities.”

Olive continued, “There is a lot of stuff that Cherie did. Instead of leaving kids with Cherie all the time, I carried our kids to games with me, and we sat in the stands as spectators. It was a good opportunity to talk with parents about other things beside football.”

Five Years into the Future

John Olive hopes to be retired in five years. His ambition is to eventually be working with his hands. Olive explained, “I want to be working with Hands and Feet, a ministry in our town that builds wheelchair ramps. That would be a nice way to spend my retirement working on a couple of wheelchair ramps a month, helping people stay in their houses.” 

When asked where he will physically be living in five years, Olive stated, “We will be staying in Tullahoma or wherever the grandchildren are – that is what Cherie tells me.”

QUOTES ABOUT JOHN OLIVE FROM FOOTBALL COACHES

“John Olive is an outstanding football coach, and a better man! Great mentor for all of the young men that have come through that program. I have competed against him when I was at Hillsboro and at McGavock and every time you knew his kids were going to fight for four quarters. To have been at Tullahoma for as long as he has is a testament to his character!”

– Jay Gore, former McGavock head coach and Hillsboro assistant coach, present Goodpasture assistant coach.

“John is the most underrated coach in the state. He was my first encounter to a coach with a staff that knew everything you did and how you did it, and if we weren’t sound and well-coached, we had no chance of winning. Beyond his coaching ability, which is beyond the best in the state, he is one of the best people I know! Of all his accomplishments the one Tullahoma players’ parents should be proud of is that their sons played for a Christian man who really cared about them.” 

— Ron Aydelott, former Hillsboro and Riverdale head coach.

“As a young head coach, I was really impacted by Coach Olive’s influence.  He was a class act and one of the most well-respected people in the profession.   Throughout my coaching career and now as an administrator, I try to be an ambassador for our youth as he has been during his career. I am thankful our paths crossed as coaches and to still be able to call him a friend.” 

— Jason Hardy, former Shelbyville Central head coach and present Jackson County head principal.

“I have known John since 1995. He is an outstanding coach and leader of men. His teams were always prepared. The thing I appreciate the most is that he is a man of integrity.”    

 – Doug Greene, Coffee County head coach.

“Always the same guy. I’ve coached against him for 19 years. Have seen them really good, go through a drop in talent and suffer through a couple of 0-10 seasons and then have phenomenal success ending with a State Championship. He has always prepared his teams at a high level and been a class act. I’ll miss coaching against him.”

— David Marston, Lawrence County head coach.

“Coach Olive is one of the really good guys in this business. He did it for the right reasons. He was always supportive of me when I was at Maryville. You would have a hard time finding anyone to say something bad about Coach Olive. It was very fitting that he was able to go out with a state championship. He deserved it.” 

– George Quarles, former Maryville High School head coach and present East Tennessee State University head coach.

“John deserves the win. A lot of good coaches have come and gone without having the opportunity of playing that one special game. Takes hard work, good surrounding cast of players and coaches and some very good luck.”  

– Terry Hemontolor, former Hunters Lane head coach and Hillsboro assistant coach.

Harbaugh’s comments are alarming and reassuring at the same time. Harbaugh said what most of us thought about Tua’s re-entry into the game on Sunday. How was Tua Tagovailoa allowed to renter the game on Sunday and allowed to play Thursday night?

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/09/30/john-harbaugh-i-couldnt-believe-what-i-saw-with-tua-tagovailoa-injury/

The video of a conversation between Peter King and Mike Florio in the story link is very illuminating. The issue of who should ultimately make the decision about a player’s safety regarding concussive issues is at the forefront of the debate. As Peter King states, there is a red badge of courage for players to keep playing and lie about their concussions.

On a high school level, there are protocols in place, but anyone who has attended high school games over the years will attest, there are head injuries in football games. To a fan in the stands, it is very difficult to accurately ascertain what actually happens to a player. Millions saw Tua Tagovailoa suffer some head trauma on Thursday night’s NFL game, yet he was cleared later that night in a Cincinnati hospital and flew back with his team.

Head concussions is a lingering issue that will not go away in football on any level. As reluctant as players, coaches, and fans are to deal with concussions, it is an issue that must be fully evaluated again with standard medical protocols that protects players at every level of competition.

Peter King sounds an alarm by stating that if more guardrails are not in place to protect players at every level, you are going to see colleges and schools starting to drop football. What has happened to Tua Tagovailoa should create more changes in the protocols to protect players from head trauma.

Rising sophomore C.J. Taylor went into Vanderbilt’s Black and Gold Spring Game this past Saturday with the mindset of making plays, and he made a big one in the opening defensive series of the game. C.J. was playing outside linebacker and blitzed in the B gap on the fourth offensive play of the game, and he tackled the running back behind the line of scrimmage. It was a play that highlighted how McMinnville’s Mr. Football has made a big impression this spring on Vanderbilt’s football coaches.

DEFENSIVE COACHES PRAISE C.J.

Linebacker coach Nick Lezynski said after the game that C.J. had progressed this spring. Lezynski said, “He grew up and matured as a player. He played with intensity and great effort. This spring we had to tell C.J. to hold back a couple of times because he was thumping dudes. He sets a tone for physicality and that was on display this spring.”

Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator, Nick Howell said, “I really just got to know him through this spring ball. My impression is that he is a good football player. He has a knack for the ball. He is physical. He plays fast. A really good player.”

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

C.J. Taylor is living up to the Mr. Football TSSAA 6A award he won as a Warren County Pioneer in 2020. Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea spoke to the crowd over the stadium PA system at halftime. Lea emphasized his gratitude for fans showing up, and he said, “We are on a long journey to build a strong team.” There was no doubt when spring practice ended on Saturday that C.J. had successfully embarked on his collegiate football journey with the Commodores.

POTENTIAL FOR C.J. TO START THIS FALL

Both coaches were asked about the prospect of C.J. starting this fall on defense. Linebacker coach Nick Lezynski said, “There is a chance C.J. will start this fall. We compete every day. He ran with the ones a lot this spring, and he got a good opportunity to put himself on display. Like we say all the time, one day, one life. As a linebacker you’ve got one day to prove yourself.”

Defensive coordinator Nick Howell commented on C.J.’s potential to start this fall. Howell said, “We will evaluate everyone together (as coaches), and we will put the best players on the field. C.J. had a good spring. He is doing well. He has put himself into a position where he can help us. He plays fast. I don’t know how fast he is, but he has a lot of instincts. There is a place for him in different packages that we have where he can play fast and use his skill set.”

BD NEWSLETTER INTERVIEW WITH C.J. TAYLOR

BD NEWSLETTER INTERVIEW WITH C.J. TAYLOR

BD How was your freshman year?

C.J. I have been running with the ones for the past two weeks. It felt good because I put a lot of work in. I’ve been studying a lot of film. I am glad that I am getting a reward from it. It’s a good experience.

BD What will you do this summer?

C.J. This summer I will be in Miami on the beach, working in the sand. That’s the plan. I will be back on campus June 5.

BD How has the conditioning, weight-training gone?

C.J. The conditioning, weight-training has gone well. I am feeling good. I am up to 208. A lot of speed and conditioning down there in the sand, in Miami.

BD What was the most challenging part of your freshman year?

C.J. My hand injury. Not being able to play due to that, not being able to catch up with the playbook hurt me a lot. I have never been sitting on the bench or anything like that, and it took a lot of pride. Took a lot of my pride.

BD Did you miss any classes this spring and forced to run the regatta?

C.J. I did have to do a regatta last week. It was a miscommunication, so I have done that (the regatta).

BD What do you think about the prospect of starting this fall?

C.J. When you wake up, there is no decision to be made. If you want to play, you have to come to work. If not, you will get your spot taken.

BD Where do you hang out in town and on campus?

C.J. I am always in my dorm. I hang out with my friends in the new dorm.

BD Anything you want to say to the people in McMinnville?

C.J. I hope I make you all proud, and this is for you all.

I experienced an unusual introduction to Sable Winfree during her freshman season. When I started following Warren County athletics intensely two years ago, I had virtually no knowledge of who was on the teams. One night I was covering Eastside elementary basketball, and a fifth-grader, Sarah Kate Winfree scored something like 24 or 26 points. I interviewed her, and was surprised at how articulate and willing Sarah Kate was in helping me report about her game. Well, the next night, her sister Sable Winfree was the polar opposite after Warren County’s game.

Sable Winfree was exiting the basketball court after the game, and I approached her. I said something like, “Hey, you have a younger sister Sally Kate (I am terrible at remembering names), and she scored 26 points last night. Can you answer a few questions about your game tonight?” Sable replied with a facial expression I was very familiar with — my daughter gave me the same look often when she was in high school. Sable said, “No, and that’s not her name!” And Sable walked away.

That interaction stopped me in my tracks. I immediately knew that I had received the same look my daughter had given me countless times when she wanted me to know how stupid I was. Well, I had messed up Sable’s sister’s name, and it was clear that Sable had no interest in talking to me. I had a dilemma…I was a sports reporter for the local newspaper, and I thought I had stumbled upon an interesting story of a family full of exceptional athletes. How was I going to get this freshman to talk to me? Consequently, I was determined to try and redeem myself, and to get to know more about the Winfree family.

But I digress…the real appeal with Sable Winfree is her basketball performance. I love her personality and her family; furthermore, she is a great part of the Lady Pioneers’ story. Night after night her freshman season, it was exciting to see how such a young athlete could do so well as a point guard on a varsity team. This season her teammates matured and developed, and collectively they made the impressive run to win over 20 games after losing over 20 games just two seasons ago. Personally, I think the heart of Sable Winfree is a major factor in the Lady Pioneers’ recent success.

I am grateful that several members of the Lady Pioneers basketball team participated in interviews for this series of articles about the team. I am always surprised when Sable Winfree communicates with me when I know she thinks I don’t know what I am talking about regarding basketball. Listening to head coach Anthony Lippe and the five players who started down the stretch of this past season helped me understand what makes this team special. I hope some of the the players’ personalities and love for the game came through in these interviews.

And now, the final interview in this series with the floor commander of the Lady Pioneers, point guard Sable Winfree.

BD Newsletter: How would you compare your sophomore year to your freshman year individually?
SABLE WINFREE: I felt like coming back as a sophomore I knew a little bit more of what I would be playing against, and I knew the game better. I had some experience, whereas playing as a freshman it was my first year and I had to kind of figure everything out.

BD Newsletter: How was this year’s team different?
SABLE WINFREE: After last season ended, we all got together as a team and agreed that we wanted to make it as far as possible this year. Everyone improved over the summer with this goal in mind. When we came back, everyone was on the same page and just wanted to win. No one was worried about who scored or who played as long as we won. We played as a team this year, and that’s what made us so successful. 

BD Newsletter: On a scale of 1-10, 1 being almost painful and 10 being maximum discomfort, how much discomfort did you have with injuries this season? Please list them, knee, back, etc.
SABLE WINFREE: I would say like an 8. I had my back injury still from last year start to bother me, and then in a game against Franklin, I went up for a last shot and hyper extended my knee — taking me out for a week or so. I would have to say this year was probably my worst for injuries. I mean, I don’t think there was one game where I didn’t end up on the floor.

BD Newsletter: How did you feel when the season ended?
SABLE WINFREE: I was upset that we couldn’t go farther, but I’m glad that we went as far as we did. I really will miss playing with Jaden and the bond that we had after playing together

BD Newsletter: What do you see as the strengths of next year’s team? It’s weaknesses?
SABLE WINFREE: I feel like next year our strengths will be the fact that we’re stacked in guards. We have Shelby, Kyra and Mia, but we’ll also have Savannah and Stick (Brienne Kelsey) coming in. We will definitely be a hard team to guard with all the speed. But I feel like our weakness will definitely be our height and the fact that we don’t have a true 5. But I think with all the speed, it won’t matter that much if we get them in transition.

BD Newsletter: How do you think high school basketball has affected you, the team, the school and town?
SABLE WINFREE: I think high school basketball has definitely humbled me since middle school. Playing in high school has definitely given me more confidence, and I owe most of that to coach Lippe who helped show me how to be a good leader, better athlete and a good teammate. I don’t think anyone in Warren County would think they would see girls basketball get farther than the boys, but I think it’s deserved with how hard we worked and how much time everyone has put into the team. Girls basketball has been so underestimated in Warren County for so long; so, I’m really excited to finally see us get some of the spotlight.

BD Newsletter: One more question, what will you work on during the offseason?
SABLE WINFREE: I have already started to work on my left. I would love to come back and have both hands. I also was planning on working on my shot and stamina. I feel like if I get that down, that would put me a step ahead.

The first time I fully realized what an intense competitor Shelby Smartt had become occurred at a Hall of Fame game against Notre Dame High School in Whitwell this past season. The game was very close and there was a lot of contact. Late in the game, it felt as though Shelby Smartt personally decided that Warren County was not going to lose. She made key shot after shot, and Shelby was the difference in that game down the stretch.

Shelby Smartt will find a way to get to the basket when the Lady Pioneers need some points. She has made many 3-pointers when Warren County needed a big basket. There are times in a game when there appears to be no chance of Shelby making a shot, but she consistently finds a way to put points on the board. As the photos demonstrate, she often shoots off balance and fights through defenders.

Shelby Smartt will bring a lot of experience and toughness to the team next year. She has been a vital part of the turnaround in the Lady Pioneer program the past two seasons. Shelby is the type of hard-working player who never stops working hard to improve, and she gives 100% each minute she is in a game.

BD Newsletter: How would you compare this season to last season for you personally?

SHELBY SMARTT: This season I think everyone as a whole clicked a lot better. We played as a true team would, even when adversity hit. As to my sophomore season, we hadn’t found our groove yet.

BD Newsletter: How was this year’s team different than last year’s team?

SHELBY SMARTT: This year’s team was different because everyone put in work during the off season and got better and improved their game. Not only did we improve physically we improved mentally, we are no longer a young team so we’re pretty familiar with the varsity level now. We definitely matured.

BD Newsletter: Did you have any injuries or sickness this season? If you did, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being virtually no pain and 10 being maximum discomfort, how much of a discomfort were injuries?

SHELBY SMARTT: My first injury was my back. If I had to rate the pain of it, it would have been at least a 7. Next was my wrist. I’d say the pain at first was pretty bad, but it eased up fairly quickly. I’d rate it a 6. Last was my shoulder. I’d say this one has been the worst one of the season. I’d rate it a 9 or 10 considering I’m still having some issues with it.

BD Newsletter: How did you feel when the season ended?
SHELBY SMARTT: I was upset when the season ended. I wasn’t ready for it to be over, I wanted to continue making history for the Lady Pioneer program this year. But looking back at everything the team accomplished this year…it made me proud to be a part of something that started out with no foundation and now has respect.

BD Newsletter: What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses on next year’s team?

SHELBY SMARTT: Almost all our girls will be back next season. We’ve played against some of the best teams in the state and hung with them; so, I think if we stay confident and don’t underestimate anyone, we’ll be even better next year. And girls are consistently getting better each year; so our strengths are definitely the fact that we know each other’s playing styles now and we are gonna work on our game during the offseason. We’re gonna work on our weaknesses now so we will improve them before the next season.

BD Newsletter: How do you think high school basketball affects you personally, the team, the school and the town?

SHELBY SMARTT: Being a student athlete can be hard, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Basketball brought me close to girls I may have never talked to before and I love my team. They truly are my best friends, and I know I can count on them for anything, just like they can count on me. This year in particular people actually started showing up to the girls games and they started respecting our program. It made us all feel good to have our community there to support us through wins and losses.

BD Newsletter: What will you work on during the offseason?

SHELBY SMARTT: During the offseason I’m gonna work on every aspect of my game not just one specific thing. I want to be an all-around player for my team next year.

BD Newsletter: How did it feel to be named all-region this season?

SHELBY SMARTT: It feels really good, couldn’t have done it without my team. All the credit goes to them.