Houston White has announced his resignation as Hixson High School's football coach.After five mostly frustrating seasons, Houston White has announced his resignation as Hixson High School's football coach.
White, 38, announced his decision to the team Monday morning and said he has a plan for his coaching future but cannot elaborate until the final details have been worked out.
"I will definitely miss the players and the relationship I have with them and our coaching staff," White said. "But I feel like I need to explore other options and give someone else a shot with this program.
"We were able to keep a core group of assistants, and I believe we definitely improved the program overall -- the facilities and the players' academics and character are all better than when we took over."
The Wildcats finished 4-6 overall last season, narrowly missing the playoffs by losing three District 6-AA games by four points or less and another by seven points.
"I would've liked to have won more games, and maybe we could have pushed different buttons to get that done," said White, who compiled a 16-34 overall record in his tenure with the Wildcats. "But we accomplished a lot of positive things and I will take a lot of good memories from having worked with this program."
A 1991 East Ridge graduate, White coached for four years at Notre Dame High School, including the last two (2000 and '01) as head coach. He took the Fighting Irish to the playoffs both years as head coach before taking an assistant's coaching job at Texas Class 5A power Lake Highlands, near Dallas. He then spent three seasons as offensive coordinator at Bishop Lynch Catholic School in Dallas, helping that program to the state semifinals each season before returning to Chattanooga to take over at Hixson.
"Houston brought a ton of positives to our program," Hixson athletic director Brian Bray said. "He's done a tremendous job and will be greatly missed. We feel like he's leaving the program in better shape than when he got here.
"We will begin taking resumes and evaluate our next step after Christmas break. Applicants can contact me or our principal [Lee Sims] at the school, and hopefully we will have a new coach in place by February."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.