After several years coaching in Texas, Houston White returned to Chattanooga last spring to take over as head football coach at Hixson High School. When Wildcats basketball coach Bill Eller was suspended early in the season, White stepped in and led the team to 13 straight wins and a 14-2 finish. He is now coaching the school’s track team.
Your schedule has been full since you got back to Chattanooga. You had a history of coaching basketball and football when you were at Notre Dame earlier this decade, but how much track experience did you have?
“Before I went to Texas I had no experience in track. I was a baseball player as a kid and hadn’t coached track before, but fortunately I worked with a coach in Dallas who was very knowledgeable and taught me a lot. We won three state championships while I was a track assistant in Texas. While I was there, I spoke with several college coaches and went to track clinics and just increased my knowledge by asking questions and learning as much as I can.”
How difficult is it to coach three different sports in one year?
“I don’t really label myself a football coach to begin with. I’m just a coach. I’ve had experience in several different sports in my career, and the one common thing is the competition. I try to learn as much as I can about different techniques in each sport and have assistants that know how to teach as well.”
What did you learn from the experience of being asked to take over the basketball team on such short notice?
“This year’s basketball season made me a lot better coach. I already knew how to manage a game, but I was thrown into a situation I wasn’t prepared for, and the lessons I learned will transfer into any other sport that I coach. The assistants did a tremendous job holding the team together, and the players had an iron will to not let anything distract them from winning.”
How does competing in one sport carry over into another?
“I’ve strongly encouraged our football players to compete in track and field. It’s all but mandatory because when you line up to run a sprint against a kid from Brainerd, competing against such great athletes will prepare you for competing this fall. It’s good to get those butterflies before competing and to learn how to cope with that nervousness. Other aspects will carry over, too, like our linemen improving their footwork and explosion off the ball by learning to use their hips.”
You and the rest of the football coaching staff will be much further ahead of where you were last spring. How will that show during spring practice?
“For one, our kids have had a full year of working out and conditioning in our system. And they know what to expect in terms of terminology and effort, so there won’t be so much time spent teaching the basics and more finding depth. On defense, we’re going to spend this spring finding the kids who like to hit and will make us the physical team we want to be.”
Stephen has covered high school sports in the tri-state area since the early 1990s, starting at the News-Free Press as a 19-year-old reporter. He has been with the Times Free Press since its inception and has been an assistant sports editor for more than seven years. Stephen is among the most decorated writers in the TFP’s newsroom, winning numerous state and regional awards for his writing on high school athletics. He has two children, Riley ...
