Like for every other prep football team taking the field tonight, the odds of Chattanooga Christian's season coming to an end rise each week as the Chargers face tougher competition. Regardless of whether they ruin East Ridge's dream season to extend their own playoff push or they're turning in their lightning bolt helmets after tonight, one thing is certain: Something much bigger is in the works for the program's future.
As you make your way from the main school building across CCS's manicured campus, with Lookout Mountain as a backdrop, toward the sprawling new $2 million football complex that sits next to an impressive stadium complete with artificial turf, it's clear that the school is serious about its football program.
In the Chargers' first five years of varsity football they compiled a 13-37 overall record, with their best finish (4-6) coming in 2010 when they narrowly missed the playoffs. Then in the spring of 2014 came the first step in CCS football becoming the area's next powerhouse program - the hiring of Rob Spence as head coach.
Spence had been the quarterbacks coach at Rutgers University the two years before he came to CCS, and before that he had built a reputation as one of the most innovative offensive minds in college football as the offensive coordinator at Clemson and Syracuse. He also worked on the offensive staffs at Temple, Toledo, Bethune-Cookman, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Hofstra, Holy Cross and Iona.
But college coaches can live a gypsy existence, and after moving his family 14 times in 28 years, including having his youngest daughter attend four high schools in as many years, Spence admitted he wanted to step away from the grind of the college game to work at the prep level. He also wanted to coach for a Christian school, where he could share his faith as well as his knowledge of the game to impressionable teens.
"My family and I paid a steep price over the years from the pressure of coaching in college," Spence said. "I still have to remind myself a lot that I'm not coaching C.J. Spiller or Jacoby Ford or those type athletes anymore, but my job is still about teaching and communicating, and I love seeing how these kids respond to coaching."
After taking CCS to the playoffs his first season, Spence helped the program take another giant step toward solidifying the future by hiring former Ridgeland head coach Mark Mariakis as his defensive coordinator. Mariakis helped build Ridgeland's roster from 17 to 130 players, won at least seven games eight times, claimed four region titles and reached the 2012 state title game. A devout Christian, he had his faith come under fire from the Freedom From Religion group who complained that he should not be allowed to lead Ridgeland's team in prayer, so joining the CCS staff allowed him, like Spence, to share his faith freely with the kids he coaches.
This season the staff has coached the program to eight wins, double the total of its best season prior to this year, and its first playoff win last week.
Another block in the foundation of the program's solid future came two months ago when school administrators made the decision to become the area's first private school that had been playing in the public school league to switch to Division II.
It was a wise move, giving the school a headstart over the other private schools that inevitably will make the same jump in the coming months. Parents of prospective student/athletes in the middle school ranks and younger who want to give their kids a private school education but can't afford Baylor, GPS or McCallie will now have a less costly option, and one that by moving to D-II can now offer financial aid to lessen the tuition even more.
That alone would make the Chargers athletic program more attractive, but when you add it to the impressive staff and facilities now in place, regardless of how much further they advance this season, the future of this program is limitless.
"There's a culture that's developing here," Spence said. "There's a seriousness to our approach. In the culture we live in, it's imperative that we have excellent facilities and coaches, and now we're able to assist people with financial aid to give their kids a great faith-based education to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to come to CCS.
"The school is very much vested in doing things first-class. I look ahead and see a future that is very bright."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.