His son, a freshman quarterback, is trying to convince coach Mark Pemberton to go to a shotgun offense and put a little more air time in Rhea County's offense.
Chances are that it isn't going to happen.
For 17 years Pemberton has run a wing-T, at least this current version, after experimenting with the Georgia Tech-type triple option and also trying the run-and-shoot.
"When I went to Rhea the first time, Coach (Bill) Horton was having so much success with the wing-T. It forces a defense to be disciplined and read keys," Pemberton said. "There is a lot of misdirection, a lot of different things you can do out of it - attack different parts of the field."
That isn't to say that Pemberton has an aversion to throwing the football. He's had 1,000-yard receivers, and one this year is well on his way to that accomplishment.
There are other exceptions to the current abundance of run or pass spread offenses, including the veer, the power-I and even the wishbone, which Central has trotted out on occasion this year.
While he was once a wing-T guy, Hixson coach Dan Duff last year pulled the veer out of the closet. This year he's running more of an "I" but still with a veer mindset.
"We have a fullback type and a tailback type, not really split-back-veer kinds," said Duff, who ran a spread at one time during his years at Rockmart, Ga. "In high school you need to do what the kids can do. Spread? You need at least four good receivers and we only have two. You have to be able to adapt to your personnel, where in college they go out and get what they need."
Everybody is looking for the equalizer.
"There was a time when I tried to find something that everybody else wasn't doing - run an offense which defenses didn't see that much," Ringgold coach Robert Akins said.
Akins, though, agreed with Duff, that he has tried to adapt to the players he had. This year that means spread. Next year it will be a spread option with a dual-threat quarterback.
"Bill Chappell (legendary former Dalton coach) once told me he would run the 'I' one year, the wing-T the next and he might even throw the ball all over the place the next," Duff recalled. "They're all good offenses. You adapt to your talent."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.