Tim DanielsAlthough his rehab has been limited to walking around the pool outside his home, Tim Daniels is on the road to recovery.
The former Red Bank football coach had heart surgery on Sept. 25 to repair what he called a damaged bicuspid valve that had an aneurysm.
"I'm just kind of chilling right now," Daniels said Thursday afternoon. "It's kind of boring. I can't really do anything [physically] until I see the doctor again, and that's about another 10 days."
Daniels, who compiled a 77-40 record at Red Bank from 2002 through last year, said he tries to make 10 laps around the family pool but is still "puffing pretty hard" when he walks upstairs to the bedroom.
Daniels has been extremely limited physically since he was released from the hospital around Oct. 1.
"When I first started walking I did well just to walk," he said. "I'm ready, though, to get back to the doctor and start cardiac rehab."
Though he retained his teaching position at Red Bank, Daniels had been working after school as the offensive line coach at Baylor.
"I went over there last week for a little while, watched a little film with the kids, but I have to say I was ready for a nap when I got home," he said.
Schools consider class
Once the TSSAA released its statewide classification breakdown Wednesday, the next step for some schools was to decide if they would remain where they are classified or choose to move up in class.
Classification is based on enrollment figures from the current school year. Schools have until Oct. 24 to notify the TSSAA if they opt to move up, so the Board of Control can set the district and region alignments for all sports for the next four years at its Nov. 15 meeting.
Seven Chattanooga-area Tennessee teams will change classification, with East Hamilton moving up to 5A, Walker Valley moving up to 6A and Whitwell moving up to 2A, while Brainerd and Red Bank will drop to 3A and Soddy-Daisy moves down to 5A. Only Bradley Central, McMinn County and Walker Valley are classified in 6A, meaning that no Hamilton County schools are in the state's largest class.
Signal Mountain has decided to continue playing up one class in 4A, despite originally planning to play where it is classified, in 3A. With an enrollment of 715, Signal will be the smallest program in 4A.
"When you look at it, it's really all the same," Eagles coach Bill Price said. "There are dominant programs in 3A like Alcoa, and there are some really good powers in 4A. We talked about it as a staff and at first thought we would go 3A, but we all decided we would just stay where we are and keep playing up."
Meigs County's enrollment fell enough that it will now compete in Class A in all non-football sports and in 2A in football.
"This came at a good time for us because we're trying to rebuild our program," Tigers coach Ricky Holiday said. "It will help playing schools more our size, and I like going to a new district and starting new rivalries."