Chad Barger has resigned as Sequatchie County's football coach after his first losing season in five years directing the Indians.With a reputation for building football programs into playoff contenders, Chad Barger has found a new job four months after resigning at Sequatchie County. Pending school board approval on April 9, Barger will become the new coach at Clay County in Celina, Tenn.
"For some reason I'm drawn to rebuilding projects," Barger said. "I just like it putting in the time and effort of getting in there and teaching kids the fundamentals and starting from the ground up.
"It's a new challenge and that's what drew me to take it. They're a 1A program and I really believe the sky's the limit for what we can do there. I'm very excited."
In Barger's two previous head coaching jobs, he led Cannon County to its first winning record in 29 years, then took over a Sequatchie County program that had had four coaches in six years and had gone 1-19 the two seasons before he took over. He guided the Indians to a 6-5 record in his first season, the first winning record for the Dunlap program in eight years, and led them to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 13 years.
They reached the second round of the Class 3A playoffs two years ago but suffered his only losing record last season, 2-8. He had a 29-26 overall record with the Indians.
Clay County finished 2-8 last season and hasn't had a winning season or reached the playoffs since 2008. Barger, who said he will finish his teaching duties at Sequatchie County this year, will meet his new team next week and begin spring practice May 6.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.