Gary Murray has been promoted to head football coach at Hixson High School, athletic director Garrick Hall said Monday afternoon.
Murray, the team's offensive coordinator for the 2016 season, succeeds Dan Duff, who was serving his second tenure with the Wildcats.
"Coach Duff is a good dude and a great coach," Hall said. "I have nothing bad to say about him. We just decided to go in a different direction. As of now he is still teaching at Hixson."
Murray has been a Hixson assistant coach since 2012, serving first under Jason Fitzgerald. He started his high school coaching career with E.K. Slaughter at Soddy-Daisy, his alma mater, and then went to Cleveland with Slaughter.
He served as offensive line coach and junior varsity coach before assuming coordinator duties last year.
"It was unexpected," Murray said of the promotion. "They called me in and asked me if I would like to be head coach. I was shocked, but it was a good shock. I have been loyal to Hixson and Hixson has been loyal to me. I expected maybe one day this would happen but not this soon."
Murray was a starting guard from 2003 to 2006 at Maryville College and served the following year as assistant offensive line coach.
"I learned a lot from E.K. and Jason and Dan," he said. "The years with Dan - he was an amazing mentor, a great teacher. He's already told me he'll give me whatever I need."
Murray said he hopes to keep the current staff - Caleb Collier, Brent Easton and Nick Rivers - intact and add another assistant in the near future.
Collier had his first season as the Wildcats' defensive coordinator in 2016. Easton serves Hixson also as girls' basketball coach. Rivers, a former Best of Preps player, played for Hixson and competed against Murray in high school.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.