In this file photo, then-Rhea County High School head football coach Jason Fitzgerald is seen prior to a game against Hixson High School in the fall of 2007. Fitzgerald is the new coach of the Hixson Wildcats.Hixson was looking for a fresh face and Jason Fitzgerald for a fresh start. The two got together Tuesday, Fitzgerald becoming the Wildcats’ football coach.
The longtime Rhea County figure is returning to football after a season off following his resignation as the Golden Eagles’ coach. His reasons were numerous and some of them personal, including the death of his son Jackson.
“With everything that went on with my family, including Jackson passing, it was time to take a break,” he said. “Then the Hixson job came open. We had played Hixson before. I knew they had good facilities and had some good players in years past.”
Hixson needed a coach after Houston White resigned, reportedly to take a position at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.
“He’s a proven leader and he’ll bring new excitement to our program,” Hixson athletic director Brian Bray said. “In a way, yeah, it helped that he’d been a head coach. He fit what we were looking for. Experience does go a long way, and we looked at what he had accomplished in the Chattanooga area.”