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Chattanooga: Prep coach finalists all state champions

By: Stephen Hargis
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The six finalists for this year’s Best of Preps Scrappy Moore Coach of the Year award have one thing in common: Each directed a team to at least one state championship this past school year.

The winner will be announced at tonight’s Best of Preps banquet at the Chattanooga Convention Center. The banquet begins at 6 p.m., and University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer is the guest speaker.

The finalists for this year’s overall coaching award are GPS’s Paul Brock, LaFayette’s Sam Forrester, South Pittsburg’s Vic Grider, Bradley Central’s Steve Logsdon, Baylor’s Bill McMahan and Ooltewah’s Norma Nelson.

In Brock’s 13 seasons with the Bruisers, they have been one of the premier volleyball programs in TSSAA Division II. They were 48-12 last fall and earned their second state title of the decade, beating favored Father Ryan 3-1. GPS had lost to the Nashville school in the Mid-east region before rebounding for its first state championship in seven years.

In his third year as LaFayette’s wrestling coach, Forrester led the program to both dual and traditional Georgia state championships in Class AA, despite not having an individual champion and missing two injured starters.

Even by standards for a traditional football power, this season was special for Grider and his Pirates. They invoked the mercy rule against 10 opponents, including in the state championship game, claiming their fourth Tennessee title and second under Grider. With Grider calling the offensive plays, the Pirates averaged 436 yards and 48 points per game and trailed only twice all year, both times answering with what became trademark big plays. The Pirates had 41 touchdowns of 30-plus yards and scored TDs on 31 of their 38 postseason possessions, counting four times in which they took a knee to end a game or half.

In Logsdon’s 16 years as Bradley’s wrestling coach, his teams have won 15 dual or traditional state championships. Despite having lost several wrestlers who placed at last year’s state tournament, this year’s team finished 23-0 on the way to a state duals title and won the traditional state tournament by more than 100 points.

Coming into his 18th spring as Baylor’s track and field coach, McMahan knew he had several talented athletes but no true superstar. But he found the right event for each girl, guiding the Lady Red Raiders to their first Division II state championship since 1999. Lady Raiders athletes won six events and placed second in three others at the state meet. The boys’ team narrowly missed also claiming a state title, finishing second.

Nelson lost all of her belongings in a house fire last August, including state championship rings from her time as an Ooltewah softball assistant in 1990 and ’92. This spring, her 15th as head coach, she earned a Class AAA state ring as the Lady Owls finished the season with a 46-3-1 overall record and a No. 18 ranking in the USA Today national poll. Ooltewah beat eventual Division II-AA state champion GPS and Class AA state champ Goodpasture Christian during the regular season.

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