Hardin Valley school hires Galloway couple

A rare opportunity to become head coaches at the same school has lured two of this area’s brightest young assistants away.

Keith and Jennifer Galloway have resigned from Cleveland High School to become the boys’ and girls’ head basketball coaches at Hardin Valley Academy, a new school opening in Knoxville this fall.

“Our school and our community hates to lose them both,” Cleveland athletic director Charlie Cogdill said. “They have been very valuable members of our staff. Jennifer has been more than ready for a couple of years and Keith comes from a great coaching background and has done a wonderful job, winning the last two district tournaments as our freshman coach.

“It’s our loss. Both are great young people and role models.”

While at Lookout Valley, Keith Galloway became the first prep athlete since Bradley Central’s Steve Sloan to be named all-state in three sports. He played basketball and football at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has been a football and basketball assistant for three years at Cleveland.

While at Cleveland, Galloway and Jennifer Wilson began dating and were eventually married. She was an Oak Ridge star who became a four-year starter at UTC and eventually a graduate assistant with the Lady Mocs. In all four years that she has been an assistant at Cleveland, the Lady Blue Raiders have advanced to the Class AAA state tournament.

Two years ago, when Cleveland coach Rachel Moore took maternity leave, Jennifer led the program to 13 wins in its final 15 games, and the team advanced to the state semifinals.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence that every year she was with us we went to the state tournament,” Moore said. “What she did two years ago when she took over for me, she proved she was ready then. They’re both very deserving.”

Hardin Valley will compete in Class AAA, in the same district as Oak Ridge. The school will have an enrollment of more than 1,100 students, but no seniors in its first year.

“We felt a new school was a great place to start our own tradition,” Keith Galloway said. “The people in charge seem to have the right idea about everything, and we both felt this was a great place to be teachers and coaches.

“We both knew we were ready and that the opportunity would come eventually. We feel really blessed that we’re getting the chance to work at the same school.”

Galloway’s father, Joe, has coached at Lookout Valley for more than 30 years and remains the school’s athletic director. Keith’s older sister Kristen is Lookout Valley’s girls’ basketball coach, and his younger sister Katie is the head coach at Ringgold High.

“I’m very excited to have both of them coming here, considering their backgrounds,” Hardin Valley principal Fallee Reynolds said. “After meeting with them, they have so much excitement about building our program and a solid plan to get it done.

“If I had kids playing here, I would want them to play for Keith and Jennifer. It’s awesome to get two quality coaches like this that are also husband and wife. Besides coaching, they’ll be great role models for the kids to see what a healthy relationship is.”