JASPER, Tenn. — More addictive than any drug is the adrenaline shot that is being part of Friday night football.
Count Ken Colquette among the area coaching legends who could not stay away from the sideline, unable to find a substitute for the thrills the game offers.
Had Colquette merely returned to coaching, it would have put him in the same category with Benny Monroe, John Mullinax and other coaches who abruptly ended their retirements. What makes Colquette’s more noteworthy is the fact that it is a true homecoming: He is back at Marion County, helping the program he built into a state power.
“There’s only so much TV and fishing you can enjoy before you have to find something else to do,” Colquette said. “I hate yard work and I can’t fix things. Coaching is all I know, so I wanted to find some place that wanted my help.
“I told Coach (Troy) Boeck I’m not going to stab him in the back for his job. He’s the boss and I’ll shut up when he tells me to. I know my role now, and I’m just glad to be able to get the old whistle out and get back on the field.”
After a four-year absence from coaching, Colquette came back in the spring to work with the Marion County quarterbacks. He is considered sort of the Yoda of the veer offense. Regardless of the subject, few teachers know their profession better than he does, so his return to the on-field classroom should speed the learning curve for the Warriors’ inexperienced offense.
The 61-year old Colquette likely will retire this summer at Grundy County, where he has been principal the last eight years. Right now he is a volunteer assistant at Marion, but he may work out a 100-day contract so he can earn a supplement, pending board approval.
Colquette was first a successful head coach at Bridgeport (Ala.) before taking over at Marion in 1980 and guiding that program to unparalleled success. The Warriors won four state championships, were state runners-up twice and had just one losing season in his term. During one stretch in the mid-1990s, they went 56-1.
After resigning from the Jasper school in 1996, Colquette coached at Vidalia (Ga.) and Grundy County before ending his head coaching career with a 249-81 record.
Colquette’s return has been met with resistance by the county’s two other schools. But for those who wear the purple and white and get goosebumps at the sound of the program’s infamous tractor whistle, it is just another reason to believe last year’s 11-2 season was merely a first step back toward the days when the Warriors were the Bullies of the Valley.
His return to help with Marion’s offense, coupled with South Pittsburg bringing back former coach Danny Wilson as its defensive coordinator, has also added plenty of preseason fodder to one of the state’s top cat-and-mouse game rivalries.
“Those are the games that get me excited,” Colquette said. “It will be good to see Danny again and have that feeling before big games like that. I forgot how much I missed Friday nights. I just hope they don’t beat us too bad.”
Although he says there are some aspects of the game he will have to adjust to, he hasn’t missed a bit as one of the area’s legendary old-school poor-mouthers. Nobody worries better than Colquette.
And although he is the biggest link to Marion’s past glory, he is not the only one on staff. Larry Ziegler also was hired back on staff this spring, joining other former players Shane Thomasson and Rodney Rankin as assistants who won state titles playing for Colquette.
“Some people may think I’m worried about having a legend like Ken on the staff,” said Boeck, who in his first season led the team to the semifinals for the first time since 1995, when Colquette was still in charge. “I don’t care as much about the credit for success as I do about just winning, and having him gives us a better chance of doing that.
“Ken is an icon here. I’m extremely excited to have him back. I think it will be a win-win situation. He has the type knowledge about the game that only experience teaches you.”
