First-year head coaches for prep football must learn quickly

When asked what he learned in his first year as a head football coach, Central's Cortney Braswell replied, "Man, what I didn't learn would make that list a lot shorter."

Now in his second season, Braswell - formerly a veteran assistant who worked for several outstanding programs, including Bradley Central and Notre Dame - matured on the job last year, just as a handful of first-year head coaches in the Chattanooga area will try to do this year. It's a group that includes Whitwell's Randall Boldin, Hixson's Gary Murray, Signal Mountain's Josh Roberts, Lookout Valley's Lance Rorex and Bledsoe County's Dennis Therrell.

Returning to the area but with two years of experience as a head coach is Brainerd's Tyrus Ward.

"You're the only guy that's worried about the whole (program)," Braswell said. "The team across the field doesn't care how many coaches you have, whether you've slept the night before or how much money you have in the program.

"One thing I learned above all else is how to better deal with frustration, and one mantra as a coach: You've got to be clear, you've got to be concise and you've got to be consistent."

It isn't the X's and O's that hamper the first-year guys. It's the paperwork, community relations and other things vital to the program, such as fundraising.

"I never knew so many people had my cellphone number," Murray said. "So far I've had a great support group around that has helped. We made a good hire in Josh Owensby, who's a former head coach, as our offensive coordinator, and I've also leaned on Brent Easton, who's been with some good programs."

It takes organizational skills and the ability to delegate responsibility to be successful.

"If you're not organized, you better get that way in a hurry," Roberts said. "To me the biggest thing as a head coach is letting your (assistant) coaches coach. For me it isn't the X's and O's but more relationships and the culture we want for our program."

Boldin was part of Whitwell's program last year as an assistant to Tracy Malone.

"You're always preparing for the next step. Now it's the organization aspect - getting from place to place, travel, feeding the team, clean-up days, and we have little-league camps coming up," he said. "I try to delegate as much as possible to (assistant) coaches, but at the end of day I'm the one worrying about it."

A Lookout Valley alumnus, Rorex has served the school as its head baseball coach.

"Baseball you can do mostly alone. Football, you have to have guys who want to help and let those guys have responsibilities," he said. "There's a learning curve. Football is a completely different animal. There's so much paperwork. By the time kids get to baseball, a lot of that paperwork is done."

Baseball coaches are pretty much year-round guys, especially considering field maintenance.

"I've learned to mow three fields in two and a half hours," Rorex said with a laugh.

The community appears to have endorsed the former two-sport Times Free Press Best of Preps player.

"In addition to the coaches (holdover assistant David Dinger and newcomers Terrance Marbury, Chad Rogers and Zeke Rudolph, there have been so many helping hands," Rorex said. "There's been a lot of painting, and the fieldhouse has been remodeled. The community is on board."

That is a facet of the job Ward is staring down the barrel, as well as recruiting in the halls and fundraising. Yet as a former Panther, Brainerd is his dream job.

His first two years as a head football coach were spent at Whites Creek in Nashville.

"I think those two years are going to help me," Ward said. "I can draw on the experiences I had. It was good for me to be on my own. Now I look at the areas where I failed, which will help me at Brainerd, but I have a starting point."

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.