Kraig Campbell to coach Red Bank High School girls basketball

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Kraig Campbell is seen in Red Bank in this file photo.
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Kraig Campbell has assumed the girls' basketball coaching duties at Red Bank High School, succeeding Brandon Crews.

Campbell, who served for a time as an assistant to former Red Bank boys' basketball coach John Cherne, will continue as offensive coordinator on the football staff under new coach E.K. Slaughter.

"I like the up-tempo style of play, and that's the attitude I want to take to the girls," Campbell said. "My philosophy is to get after people and force the issue."

He is having open-gym workouts from 2 to 3:30 each afternoon the rest of the week.

"If girls are interested I would encourage them to come on over," he said. "We had six or seven today and they're all young -- no seniors. The potential is there to be pretty good one day."

Campbell, who played basketball for Ricky Perry at Boyd-Buchanan, also has worked in that sport at Tyner and Soddy-Daisy.

"We are very excited that Kraig is taking this challenge and look forward to the passion and stability that Kraig will bring to the program," new Red Bank principal Justin Robertson said. "He is the right person for this job and brings a wealth of experience to the program."

Robertson hired Fionna Griffith to serve as Campbell's assistant. Griffith was a four-year starter at Tennessee Temple.

Meanwhile, Slaughter has filled a slot on his football staff with Kerry Jackson, most recently the defensive backs coach at Beech High in Hendersonville.

"He played at MTSU with Corey Simpson and he already knew a couple of coaches on our staff," Slaughter said.

Simpson, who is moving this year to McCallie, had been a Red Bank assistant to Tim Daniels with Slaughter.

Jackson had been at Beech for six seasons.

In other Lions news, Hagen Wilkey recently attended one of Duke coach David Cutcliffe's quarterback camps and won the competition for fade route passing.

"Hagen has been doing a good job. He's working hard on his own to improve his mechanics. I'm excited about him," Slaughter said of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior.

Wilkey started one game at quarterback last year, leading a season-opening victory over Soddy-Daisy. However, he spent most of his time as a tight end and linebacker as the Lions staff settled on smaller but quicker then-senior Niquia McDuffie.

Wilkey also has attended one-day camps at UTC and Middle Tennessee State and plans on another at Tennessee Tech in July.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.